Adopted
by MonsterBrush
Summary: Jack encounters a stray fearling in Pitch's lair and convinces the Guardians to take it in. Meanwhile, Pitch Black is missing and it's up to the Guardians to find him. (may contain spoilers from the books) Edit 10/5/2017: Undergoing edits to change POV from 2nd person to 3rd person in accordance to FF guidelines. This is gonna take a long time.
1. Missing

He was your Papa. You liked your Papa. You liked your Papa very much. He was always there for you, he never left you behind. He wasn't supposed to. The older ones said so, and the older ones were always usually right.

You weren't one of the older ones. You can't remember how old you are.

You can't remember riding through the stars with your Papa, and you can't remember a time when your Papa wasn't your Papa. You were one of the younger ones. There weren't so many older ones anymore. The older ones said so.

Then there were the _youngest_ ones. You didn't like the youngest ones. They were mean and noisy and they didn't think of your Papa as their Papa at all. You didn't like them, but your Papa liked them. He liked them a lot.

Your Papa locked you away when the youngest ones came. You didn't like that. He isn't supposed to leave you alone. You _hate_ being alone. You knew that he hated it more, but sometimes he hated you more than he hated being alone. You didn't like those times.

The older ones said he _replaced_ them. They didn't like that. There were even less of the older ones than you remembered, and that was back when there weren't so many older ones anyway. The other younger ones were just sad. You were sad too. You couldn't see what was so great about a bunch of horses anyway.

You didn't remember how long it had been since you had last seen your Papa. You remember feeling the first breeze you had felt in a long time, and you remember the _fear of isolation_ as a boy who was _definitely not your Papa_ wandered into the echoing cavern of your prison. Because that was what your Papa had put you in. The older ones said so. Your Papa had that same fear as the boy. But this wasn't your Papa.

You were quiet, because your Papa didn't like it when you made noise, but you weren't sure who this boy was or why he was here. Did the boy want to join their family? It had been so long since a new child had joined them, and you remember how much your Papa wanted a child. This boy seemed a little old, but maybe your Papa wouldn't mind.

You knew to hide yourself when the boy approached, tucked nice and safe in the back of your prison where the boy's cold light could not reach. Then you used the trick that the older ones taught you. You weren't too good at it, but you had been practicing! Whenever your Papa wasn't around to scold you for the noise you practiced, and you practiced extra quietly whenever your Papa was near. So, in a soft voice, you called out to the boy.

When you saw the boy stiffen and whirl towards your prison you knew it had worked, so you let out a louder wail and breathed in at the _fear_ that carried through the air. The boy was scared as he ran to the bars of your prison, and you made yourself extra big when his cold light fell on you, trying to remember a shape that the boy's fears expected to see. It must have worked because the boy aimed the wooden crook in his hands and it let out an icy blast that quickly forced open the heavy door of your cage, the sturdy lock unable to withstand the force of the ice that expanded inside its mechanisms.

The cage opened at last and you skittered free alone. Your brothers and sisters had disappeared long ago, but that didn't matter because there was this boy here! This boy would join their family, just like your Papa wanted, and then everything would be okay. The boy leapt backwards with a yelp when you scrambled over his freezing toes, and a wave of _panic_ reached your senses. You paid it no mind, even though your belly—which you didn't know you had—ached with… hunger? You were very hungry, yes.

No! You needed to find your Papa first. You couldn't allow yourself to be distracted. It was _very_ important that you found your Papa. You didn't know why, but it was.

He liked it when you brought him gifts. He would like this boy as a gift too, you reckoned. So, with another piercing wail you flew out the cavern, expecting the boy to follow because didn't he _want_ to be part of your family? Why else would he be here if he didn't? But when you looked behind yourself the boy hadn't followed. He was still in front of your cage, pulsing with fear, that angry cold light directed at you. You didn't like that light. It didn't burn like you remembered most light did, but it made you unhappy, and you cried out softly just like you had the first time. Some of the tension melted from the boy's stance, but he remained weary as he approached. That was okay, because Papa wasn't here and it was okay to be scared when your Papa wasn't around. You missed your Papa. You needed to find him. You would come right back, you told him, after you found your Papa.

You didn't think the boy understood what you meant because he followed you anyway, which was okay because the boy could _fly._ Most boys couldn't fly, but this one could. You remember the older ones used to tell you and the other younger ones about a flying boy that they _hated_ because he was _bright_ and _did not want to join their family_. _This_ boy was okay though, you thought, because even though he was bright he was also cold, and he followed you and helped you look for your Papa, which was nice because you couldn't find your Papa. You looked and looked but you couldn't find him anywhere. You even looked in that room that you absolutely _were not_ supposed to go in, just in case, because you remember your Papa going there a lot before he locked you away, and your Papa _hated_ when you tried to go in there.

The boy had stopped following you after a while. You couldn't remember _when_ the boy had stopped following you, but when you found him he was trying to leave and that wasn't good because what about the family he wanted? If he left, he would be alone and the boy was _terrified_ of being alone, like your Papa was. You shrieked and wailed until the boy turned around to look at you, and you kept shrieking even when the boy approached, shushing and reassuring to no avail. You needed to find your Papa! The boy couldn't _leave_! Not when your Papa was missing! The boy was saying something, and you wanted to listen, so you stopped wailing for a moment.

"I have to go talk to the other Guardians so I can't take you with me. But I'll come back, okay?" The boy was saying. You cocked your head to one side in confusion.

What was a Guardian? You think you remembered your Papa saying something about a Guardian once, but he hadn't been happy and then he had locked you away. You let out a cry of protest when the boy started to stand, and the boy flinched uncertainly.

"Shhh! It's okay, little… shadow…. thingy… I'll come back, I promise." The boy asserted. "Just wait right here, okay?" the boy gave you a pleading look and you tilted your head to the other side. Wait right here? You looked at the ground where you sat and then back up at the boy for affirmation. He wanted you to sit there until he came back? Your Papa never told you to sit or stay, but the boy wasn't your Papa. Maybe it was a game. The older ones used to play games with your Papa and your Papa didn't like it when they did. The youngest ones played games too, but you never liked it when they did either because it involved you, and them chasing you, and that wasn't fun.

The boy didn't wait for you to agree to this game, because when you looked back up he was gone! That wasn't fair! And what about the family he wanted? He said he would come back, so maybe he was going to bring more family to help you look for your Papa? You double-checked the ground to make sure you remembered where the boy told you to stay, just in case you moved by accident. You weren't sure what kind of game this was, but you could sit still until he came back. You could wait. And wait you did.

You didn't know how long you waited, but you did exactly what the boy told you to do and stayed right where he left you (you had marked your spot on the ground with your claws, so you knew you hadn't moved).

The breeze came first. The boy rode into the cavern on the wind and staggered to a halt, a flicker of alarm racing through him at the sight of you waiting for him. He must have thought you couldn't stay in one spot until he came back but you sure showed him! And he had brought others, but oh… Those weren't children. Those weren't children at all.

The first to follow the boy was a big fluffy… _thing_. You weren't sure what it was, but you remembered the older ones telling you about something that looked like that once. A tall something with fluffy fur and long ears and big feet that _hated_ your Papa. This one hated _you_ because the moment it laid eyes on you it lunged past the boy to attack.

You left your marked spot and fled deeper into the cavern with a screech. You wanted your Papa. Your Papa would protect you from the furry beast. But it wasn't your Papa who saved you. It was the cold, bright boy with the wooden stick who stood between you and the fluffy rabbit thing.

"Jack, what are you doing?!" You heard someone ask, and you saw a colorful thing hovering behind the big rabbit.

"It's just a little shadow thing, it's not going to hurt us." The cold boy insisted. You crawled along the edge of the wall and tried to see past the angry rabbit and the fluttering bird to look at the other two strangers.

There was a big man, and you cringed when he spotted you. He was even bigger than your Papa, and you thought your Papa was the biggest man in the world (the older ones told you about a time when your Papa was _even bigger_ than he was now, but you couldn't believe anything was bigger than your Papa).

There was also a small man. He was so small you almost thought he was a child, but he looked much too old to be a child, and he _glowed_. Not like the cold boy, either. The small man's glow was gold and warm and you didn't like it at all because its warmth _burned_. The older ones had warned you about a little man that glowed bright like the sun, that the little man _hated_ all of them very much, and that the little man was _very strong_. Even stronger than your Papa, and your Papa was the strongest thing in the whole world! You saw the little man look at you and you crept slowly back behind the cold boy.

"Mate, that's a fearling!" the rabbit exclaimed, brandishing something at you threateningly. You swelled up as big as you could get and let out a hiss like you'd seen the other younger ones do when they fought over who got to sit in your Papa's lap. You've never sat in your Papa's lap before, but it always looked so nice so it was no wonder why everyone fought over it.

"It's just one, and he didn't attack me or anything the first time. I didn't think he'd still be here though." The cold boy was saying, glancing back at you every so often. You could feel fear from all of the strangers (except the little man, which you didn't like because that wasn't supposed to happen).

"It's not one that I'm worried about, it's the rest of them that we've gotta look out for." The rabbit snapped. The big man nodded in agreement, fixing you with a hard glare. Your Papa could glare harder than that, so you ignored the big man.

"The rest?" the cold boy repeated in confusion. You were confused to. The rest were gone. And so was your Papa, and you needed to find him. "This was the only little guy I found. He was in a cage." The cold boy said slowly. The rabbit fell silent and the group exchanged glances. You couldn't tell what was happening, but a silent conclusion seemed to have been made. The big man stepped forward, keeping a weary eye on you as he did.

"A cage? And Pitch is missing, you said?" The big man hummed contemplatively. While you were watching the big man and the cold boy a small hand closed around your middle and lifted you off the ground. You turned and found yourself face to face with the little glowing man, and you let out the loudest scream that you could make as you tried to pry the hand from your middle.

"Strewth, Sandy!" The rabbit barked, its paws clamped over its long ears. The little man's glow _hurt_ , and you screamed again, this time for your Papa, because you were sure that if your Papa heard your scream he would come and save you. But your Papa didn't come.

"Don't hurt it!" The cold boy exclaimed frantically, clutching at his staff as a wave of worry rolled over you. You strained towards the cold boy with a whine. The cold boy would protect you, and his fear was so nice.

The little man didn't speak, but something bright took shape over his head and some of the fear ebbed away from the cold boy. The large bird flew near hesitantly.

"Did that fearling just say 'papa'?" She asked softly. You could see smaller flying birds darting around her, and you wondered what they were and why they looked like the bigger bird. Maybe they were babies. The bigger bird was a she, so maybe they were _her_ babies? That would make her a mama, you reasoned, and mamas were like papas.

You missed your Papa. You didn't know why he was gone, but you missed him a lot.

"Why are ya still holding it, Sandy? Get rid of the damn thing!" The rabbit growled. The little man shook his head and narrowed his eyes at you. That's when you heard the voice.

" _Where is Pitch Black?"_ The voice wanted to know. You knew that name. That was your Papa's name. You liked to call him Papa, because that's what he was. You didn't know _where_ he was though. If you did, you would be with him. You told the voice this in no uncertain terms, and you wondered why the voice was asking, because your Papa wasn't the voice's Papa.

Another bright shape appeared over the little man's head and you squirmed unhappily.

"Sandy is right. We must find Pitch, and fearling is best chance we have." The big man said, and he rummaged through his coat for a large cloth bag. "This was for Pitch, but it will work on fearling too." The big man explained as he pulled the mouth of the bag open. The little man nodded and held you over the opening. You went into it gladly.

It was nice and dark in the bag, and the big man had said it was for your Papa. Maybe they would give the bag to your Papa when they found him. If you stayed with the bag, then you would be given to your Papa with it. Satisfied with this plan, you settled down at the bottom of the bag and congratulated yourself for the great idea.

You would find your Papa, and then everything would be okay.


	2. Leads

**Author's Note**

Chapter 2: Now with Illustrations! Find me on Deviantart under the username MonsterBrush to find out what our little fearling looks like with a kiddie harness!

* * *

You stayed in the bag for a long time. You don't remember how long you stayed in the bag, but you remembered being carried, jostled, bumped, thrown, swung, dropped, and even flattened, but you stayed in the bag.

You didn't really want to stay in the bag anymore.

It wasn't that you _didn't_ want to find your Papa, because you still very much _did_ want to find your Papa. It was just that, while staying in the special bag had been a good plan, the bag had stopped moving a while ago and it hadn't moved since. How was the bag supposed to go to your Papa if it wasn't going anywhere at all?

You could also hear voices. Not that you hadn't heard voices earlier, but those voices hadn't been saying anything interesting so you ignored them and thought of your Papa instead. You weren't ignoring them anymore though, because you kept hearing your Papa's name, and the voices kept getting louder and louder. One of the voices sounded really angry.

This wouldn't do. This wouldn't do at all. You had to find your Papa! Now was not the time for resting. It was the time for action, as your Papa liked to say.

You puffed in determination and pressed against the fabric. It had been a long time since you had done it, but you could remember a time when you could crawl into one place and crawl out of another place. Why wasn't it working now though?

The fabric moved when you pushed it, but you didn't go anywhere. Maybe you were at the wrong end?

There had been an opening once, you remembered, but you couldn't find it now, no matter how many times you shuffled from one end to the other.

It was a big bag so it was no wonder that the bag was for your Papa, it could probably fit at least four whole children inside it! But where was the opening? It wasn't a proper bag if it didn't have a hole to put things into, and how would your Papa be able to fill it with children if there was no hole? You needed to fix it.

The cloth was thick and heavy, and you didn't like the way your claws caught on the threads. You couldn't cut, so you had to pull each string until it snapped, one by one. There was a lot of string, and it was very tough to snap, but you were patient. Your Papa loved to talk about being patient.

Suddenly the bag began to move again and you screeched in excitement. Your Papa must have found it.

The mouth of the bag opened (you were certain that the opening hadn't been there before, otherwise you would have found it), and you climbed to the top in a tangled mess of loose strings that you couldn't be bothered to shake off because your Papa was… not there…

You froze on the edge of the bag and blinked rapidly at the golden face that greeted you.

That was not your Papa.

You looked around quickly and saw the cold boy standing with the angry rabbit that didn't like you, but you didn't see your Papa. The feathery mama bird was hovering with her babies nearby but your Papa wasn't there either.

You screeched in surprise as the little man grabbed you around your middle and took you out of the special bag, much to your dismay because you needed to stay with that bag.

"So this is what sound was. What were you doing to sack, little one?" It was the big man who spoke, the one who was bigger than your Papa.

That was a stupid question, you thought. You were trying to fix the sack before they gave it to your Papa because the sack hadn't had a hole! The big man didn't seem to understand this, because he bent down and took the sack away, examining your progress with a frown.

"Little rat was trying to get out." The rabbit grunted.

"It did not get very far." The big man replied dismissively. You huffed in offense. It hadn't been your fault that the hole you made was so small. You had been still working on it when they took you out.

"Jeez, how can you even touch that thing, Sandy?" The rabbit said with a shudder. The little man carried you to a big round table like the one your Papa had read about in a book once.

Your Papa loved reading. You couldn't read, but your Papa used to spend hours over his books. He liked to read aloud sometimes, and on those days (after everyone had stopped arguing over a place to sit) your Papa would read entire books from cover to cover to you and the others. That had been before your Papa had locked you away. You wondered if there would be knights at this round table like the knights in the book your Papa had read.

"Is fine, Bunny! Sandy will not have to hold fearling much longer. I have just the thing for this!" The big man exclaimed, and you saw him throw the special bag onto the table. You stretched your long arms towards it, leaning out as far as you could go. You needed that bag. You stiffened as you felt hands descend upon you holding a complex amount of cloth and rope. The little man released your middle only to wrestle your head through the cloth and force your arms through a pair of loops.

"Pfft! Really, North? A kiddie harness?" The cold boy snickered disbelievingly as the little man set you on the tabletop. How the little man managed to reach the top of the table was a mystery, but you loved those. Your Papa loved those too. You didn't like what the little man had put you into though, and you whined pitiably as the bindings were tightened snugly around your barely corporeal form. When the little man released you at last you scrambled across the smooth surface of the table and hooked the ends of your claws into the bag, allowing yourself a moment of triumph as you dragged the fabric close.

"What? Is good idea!" The big man defended loudly. You shrank away from the noise and pulled the bag along with you. You had made it halfway across the table before something halted your progress with a tug.

"North, you put a fearling on a leash." The rabbit deadpanned. The cold boy laughed brightly and you crawled away from that sound too. Your Papa didn't laugh like that. When your Papa laughed, it started as a chuckle, and then it got bigger and bigger until it became a cackle. Sometimes your Papa skipped the chuckle and went straight to the cackle, and other times your Papa stopped before the chuckle got too loud, but your Papa's laughs were never bright.

"We need fearling to find Pitch. It cannot help if it is in cage." The big man reasoned. You raised your head at the sound of your Papa's name and whined despairingly. Your Papa was probably all alone! You couldn't let your Papa be lonely. He hated to be alone.

"Do you really think it can help?" The mama bird asked.

"I doubt it." The bunny snorted.

"It keeps yelling for its papa. Who's 'papa' supposed to be? Pitch?" The cold boy asked with a raised eyebrow. You gave him an indignant squeak. Who else did he think you were talking about?

"Sick freak probably thought it'd be funny to make the children he'd turned into fearlings call him daddy. I'm not surprised." The bunny growled. You squeaked a little louder at that. You didn't know what the bunny meant by "children", you only knew that your Papa wanted one, and that you weren't a child, otherwise why would your Papa want one if he already had one?

"Bunny, that is not nice to say in front of fearling. It does not know any better." The big man admonished sternly. You wanted to tell him that you _did_ know better. They were the ones who didn't know any better. Of course your Papa hadn't always been your Papa, and you knew this. The older ones told you there was once a time when your Papa _hated_ when they called him papa. Your Papa didn't hate it anymore though, because all of them called him Papa. But they were all gone, so you supposed you were the only one left who called him Papa now.

"What do you think, Sandy? Do you think it will help us?" The cold boy asked the little man. The little man gave you a hard look and nodded once.

You didn't like the way everyone was looking at you, and it was much too bright in the room you were in. You found the mouth of the special bag and crawled inside. It was much nicer inside the bag, you decided.

"See, Bunny? You've upset it." The big man scolded.

" _I_ upset it? I'll bet'cha anything Sandy scared it." The bunny argued. You squealed unhappily and peeked out of the special bag to show them you most definitely were not scared. You didn't get scared. Papa had said so once. A few strange symbols flashed over the little man's head as he floated up onto the table and lifted the mouth of the bag.

 _"We need to find Pitch Black."_ You perked up in surprise. That was the voice from before. The one that had asked about your Papa. You huffed moodily.

You already knew that you needed to find your Papa. You just couldn't find him. You told the voice this several times. You also told the voice that you didn't like the golden man who was staring at you, or the big man's loud voice, or the bunny because it was angry. Eventually the little man leaned away and flashed a few burning shapes.

"It doesn't know? Well why do we need to keep it then?" The bunny complained.

"Maybe it knows where to look?" The cold boy suggested.

"That is good point, Jack. We could show it globe. Sandy?" The big man looked to the little man for agreement and the little man stuck out his thumb approvingly.

"Oh! Can I hold the leash?" The cold boy asked, grabbing eagerly at the long rope that the little man held. The little man relinquished the rope with an eye roll and a grin as you looked up at the cold boy in confusion. Was the cold boy going somewhere? What was a leash? Did it have something to do with the itchy ropes on your body and the rope in his hands?

"Come on little fella, we're going to find Pitch." The boy said, and you scrambled out of the special bag with a squeal.

They were going to find your Papa! You could hardly contain your excitement as you followed the cold boy and his trailing rope to the edge of the table and stopped.

The bag! You couldn't believe you had almost forgotten about it.

You couldn't leave the special bag behind, so you snagged it with your longest claws and dragged it to the table's edge. This bag was for your Papa. You thought your Papa would like it, so you had to keep it with you so you could give it to him.

This new place was not like your home with your Papa, you quickly realized.

This new place was big (not as big as your Papa's place) but it was also very loud, and very bright, and you didn't like that at all. And there were huge fluffy things (not like the rabbit though, these ones didn't have long ears) that walked around carrying shiny things and made grumbly noises like your Papa did when he didn't feel good. There were lots of shiny things in this new place, and you remembered that your Papa _loved_ shiny things. He loved shiny gold things the best, and his most favorite shiny thing in the whole world was a pretty gold necklace that he never wore, but he liked to look at it a lot. You weren't supposed to touch the shiny necklace. Not ever. But he let you touch other shiny things, as long as they weren't the necklace. Sometimes if one of the younger ones brought him a shiny thing they could sit in his lap for a bit while he talked to himself. Your Papa talked to himself a lot.

There were also little things. You thought they were children at first, but they were much to small and much too rough to be children. They wore red like the big man did, so you wondered if maybe the big man dressed them.

The cold boy didn't want you to play with the little things in red, because every time you tried to approach one he gave the rope a tug and you were tugged with it. You didn't know where you were supposed to go in this big bright new place, but you wanted to explore. The cold boy wouldn't let you do that either.

"I can't believe you're letting a fearling walk around the Pole, North." The bunny was saying somewhere behind you. You didn't see a pole anywhere so you didn't know what the bunny was talking about.

"Bah, is fine! It has leash." The big man replied offhandedly.

"You can't just put a fearling on a leash and call it done." The bunny argued stubbornly. You didn't know why the bunny was being so fussy, but you didn't care because you were busy pulling the special bag out from under the foot of one of the big furry things that weren't the rabbit and were even bigger than the big man.

"Hey Phil." The cold boy greeted. You looked up at the "Phil" and you squeaked indignantly, waving your claws at it until it lifted its foot. Serves the Phil right for stepping on the special bag for your Papa!

You followed the cold boy a little farther and you paused when you saw the biggest round ball thing you'd ever seen. It was covered in shining gold lights.

Your Papa had one of those! You didn't know when he had gotten one, or why, but you'd seen it while you were looking for your Papa earlier and it had also been covered in glowing lights. This one was bigger than your Papa's though. Much, much bigger. And it _moved_.

"Alright little guy." The cold boy said as he knelt by your side. "Hop on up there and show us where you think Pitch is." He told you, jerking his head at the big ball of lights. You looked at the ball dubiously.

You didn't think your Papa could possibly be on the big ball, but it was worth taking a quick look.

The rope was passed to the mama bird, and she hovered over you wherever you went, listing things that you didn't understand to her babies. You didn't understand a lot of things. Like why you were supposed to climb a giant ball with lights, or what those weird squiggles on the ball meant, or why some parts of the ball were blue while other parts were green, or what any of this had anything to do with finding your Papa. You paused near one line of squiggles and heard the mama bird make an exclamation.

"Italy? Is that where Pitch is?" she asked, much to your confusion. Your Papa used to go to a place called Italy once. He liked to try food and gross bitter grape juice from there, and he always laughed whenever one of the younger ones tried to take a sip from his cup and ended up retching because the juice tasted so bad. You didn't know why he liked the juice from there.

You kept crawling over the ball, deciding to ignore the occasional remark whenever you stopped at a squiggle. You didn't know how the feathered mama bird kept coming up with these places that your Papa might be, but it was nice of her to help you look for him, even if you were pretty sure by then that your Papa was not anywhere on the big ball with the lights.

Severely annoyed, you stalked back to where the cold boy was kneeling beside the special bag and retrieved it with a swipe of your claws. Your Papa hadn't been on the big ball at all!

"Alright Tooth, what places do we need to start looking at?" The cold boy asked as he took back the rope from the mama bird.

"Italy, France, Brazil, The United Kingdom, and the eastern half of the United States." The mama listed quickly.

There was a lot of activity after that, and most of it came from the big man who had started shouting orders at the Phils that had gathered near the big ball. You were quick to drag the special bag out from underfoot before one of the Phils could step on it again.

"Wait, wait, wait. It's great that we have a lead and all, but what are we supposed to do with _that_?" The bunny gave you a glare of disgust and you puffed up defensively. "We can't just leave it unattended." He added gruffly.

"It has leash-"

"Don't even think about starting the leash business again. A cage is what it needs." The bunny interrupted the big man. He sounded mad.

You sat down on the floor with and looked back and forth between the bunny and the big man as they fired argument after argument at one another. Your Papa argued with himself all the time, and the younger ones fought with each other a lot, but the big man and the bunny weren't the younger ones or your Papa.

"We could put it back in sack."

"It already tried to put a hole through the sack!"

"I could have yeti watch it then."

"That's not good enough!"

"Stop it, the both of you. It will be fine, Bunny." The mama said, flying between them. Your Papa never stopped fights between the younger ones unless they got too loud, because he hated when they got loud. Maybe she thought that the big man and the bunny had gotten loud too. "The fearling can't escape through the shadows as long as it has the harness on, and it's been very docile so far." She continued, giving them both a stern look. It wasn't a glare, so you wondered why the big man and the bunny had stopped fighting because of it. Glares were much more intimidating than just a look, you thought, and your Papa was the best in the world at glaring.

"She has a point. It hasn't tried to bite at me or anything." The cold boy agreed, poking you with the end of his wooden stick. It was very bright, but it was also very cold, and you liked that because cold things didn't burn like warm things did. You still didn't like the light though.

"But what about-" The bunny began.

"It stays at the Pole, away from the workshop. We can watch it in shifts. North can take the first shift, then tomorrow it will be Bunny, then Sandy, Jack, and finally myself. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have half of the United States and Western Europe to search for our missing Bogeyman, and a planet full of teeth to collect." The mama declared, turning away to fly out of the room.

The big man took the rope from the cold boy and you walked back through the loud place with the Phils who carried shiny things with them.

The big man took big steps, and you wanted the cold boy or the mama to hold the rope instead because you couldn't keep up with him. Your Papa took big steps too, but he didn't walk so fast, and he had a robe that you could grab onto or sit on while he walked. The big man didn't have a robe. He'd had a big red coat that you could have climbed onto, but you didn't know where it had gone because he wasn't wearing the big red coat anymore.

You stopped to adjust your grip on the special bag, and you also wanted to check to make sure the cold boy was following you because you wanted him to hold the rope again. The cold boy was behind you, but you saw the little gold man first and you stopped checking behind yourself after that because the little golden man kept staring at you and you did not like it at all.

"I still think this is a bad idea." The bunny piped up.

"You worry too much. It's just one little fearling, and look at how calm it is." The cold boy chided, nudging you with his wooden stick again. You chirped happily at the layer of ice that formed on your arm.

"I worry for a good reason! They're smarter than you think and all it takes is one mistake." The bunny insisted.

"Fearling will not get into any trouble under my watch." The big man assured the bunny confidently.

You looked up and realized that you were back in the room with the round table! Your Papa wasn't in this room! You knew this because you had already checked and he hadn't been in there at all. You turned to glare at the big man and squealed in surprise as you were hoisted by the itchy ropes that you had been forced to wear. You screeched even louder as you were put on the table without the special bag. You screamed and whined as you strained to retrieve the special bag. How did they not see how important it was?

"Calm down, little one." The big man said, holding you away from the edge of the table with one hand as he stooped to pick up the special bag with the other. You didn't calm down until the special bag was safe in your grasp.

"Well good luck, North! I'm gonna go help Tooth search the U.S." The cold boy said, flying away.

"Call me if you need anything. I'll see you tomorrow when the shifts change." The bunny said.

You huffed when the bunny left and the big man heaved a heavy sigh. You looked up at him expectantly.

Your Papa sighed like that sometimes too, and usually that meant that he was going to go into that room that you weren't supposed to go into and look at that necklace that you weren't allowed to touch. You didn't think the big man had any of those things, so you weren't sure if you were supposed to leave or not, because your Papa didn't like it when you or the others were around when he sighed like that.

The big man turned to you after a moment and smiled under his fluffy beard.

"So, little one. Would you like a fruitcake?"


	3. North's Shift

You wanted to find your Papa. He was probably lonely, you thought, and you wanted to find him. But you couldn't find him. You couldn't get out of the itchy ropes and the one long rope kept you from leaving the big round table. You weren't alone though. The big man had stayed after all the others had gone. He sat at the round table with you, a book laid open in front of him and a pencil in hand.

An empty plate sat beside you. It had originally held a slab of "fruit cake" that the big man had given you. You didn't eat it. You did chew on it though. Just a little. The cake was on the floor now.

The little things in red kept bringing the big man plates of cookies, and the big man kept passing them to you. You didn't know what to do with the cookies but you liked to stack them up tall and watch them fall over. Your Papa didn't give you food, but sometimes when the older ones played with him you got to taste his fear and that was nice.

Every now and then the big man scratched at the book's pages with the pencil and you copied the sounds with your claws on the table. You leaned over to see what the big man was doing and saw pictures of strange machinelike people. You liked books with pictures in them.

"Do you like drawings, little one?"

You supposed so. But where were the stories? Your Papa had books with pictures in them, but they also had stories. He showed you the pictures when he read to you, but you didn't think this book had any stories.

"Do you want something to play with?" The big man asked. He asked you a lot of questions, you thought. Questions like "are you hungry", "what do you want to do", and "how are you feeling". You were very hungry, as a matter of fact. You wanted to find your Papa. You were feeling fine.

"Here, you can draw whatever you like." The big man said, sliding some things across the table to you. There were some pieces of paper, which were strange because they should have been in a book, but they had nothing on them so maybe they were supposed to go in a book after you put something on them. There were also some colorful sticks called "crayons" that were covered in bite marks and were apparently not for eating because the big man showed you how to put marks on the papers with the sticks. The little things in red must not have understood this because you could tell some of them had been chewing on the crayons.

Were you supposed to make pictures like the big man did in his book? He had said to draw whatever you liked.

You liked your Papa, so you decided to draw him.

You used your blackest crayon because your Papa was the darkest thing you knew. Your Papa was really tall and very thin, so you drew him that way too. He also had spiky hair and a pointy face. You didn't have any gold crayons but yellow was close, you thought, so you used the yellow crayon and drew your Papa's shiny eyes.

"Is that Pitch?" The big man asked with a small laugh as he leaned over to look at your picture. You chirped an affirmative because that was exactly what it was.

"You drew him smiling." The big man observed.

You nodded, because you _had_ drawn your Papa smiling. Your Papa didn't smile a lot, but you liked it when he did because he didn't go into the room you weren't allowed to go into or look at the necklace that you weren't supposed to touch. He let you sit in his lap and read you books when he smiled, and he didn't tell you to be quiet or lock you away.

"And Pitch is your Papa, you say?" The big man asked you, and you nodded again even though you didn't understand why he was asking you. "I see… Is he a good papa then?" the big man asked. You thought so, and you told him as much.

You didn't understand why the big man sighed afterwards, but maybe he was tired.

Your Papa got tired a lot too.

"What are these?" the big man asked, gesturing to the scribbled blobs of black crayon you put on your newest drawing. They were the older ones because they were bigger than the younger ones. You didn't use any of the color crayons. You liked the black one and the yellow one.

"Why don't you draw yourself?" the big man suggested after a moment. You didn't really want to draw yourself, but the big man didn't mind. He said it was okay. You put all of your drawings in the special bag for safekeeping and the big man let you put the crayons in the bag as well in case you wanted to draw more.

Eventually the big man closed the book he was drawing in and stood up with a groan. "Let us go on a walk." He said, and you grabbed the special bag before he could pick you up and put you on the floor without it.

You didn't know where you were going, but you followed the big man anyway, because maybe you would find your Papa if you went with him.

Exploring the big man's place was dangerous, and you liked it better in the room with the round table. The Phils didn't lift their feet for you so you nearly got squashed several times, and the little things in red tried to grab the special bag when you went by.

The big man's place had more things than your Papa's place did, even if it wasn't as big. It was very loud, so you didn't think your Papa would have liked it. It was also very bright, so you didn't like it either. But there was a lot more things in this place than at your Papa's place, and you saw a lot of things that you had never seen before. _New things_.

The big man was talking while he walked, and he didn't let you look at the new things because he walked so fast. He talked at the Phils, and the little things in red, and you thought he talked to you a lot too but you didn't notice because you saw something _shiny_ under a table that you wanted to examine. You darted closer as fast as you could, because you knew the big man wouldn't stop to let you pick it up.

It was a big round button, and it sparkled while you held it. You put it in the special bag for safekeeping, because you were sure your Papa would like it. You also found a shiny ball with a little gold hook but it broke when you dropped it. You didn't think the big man would mind too much though because you saw a bunch more growing on a tree nearby, and you put the pieces into the bag because they were still shiny. You also found a noisy silver bell that tinkled when you touched it that reminded you of the little things in red. It wasn't gold, but you put it in the special bag just in case.

There was a lot of stuff to look at, like the shiny trees and the sparkly things on the tables, but the big man walked so fast that you could barely keep up. You latched onto the big man's foot while he walked, and you held on tight because you didn't know what else to do. He was not your Papa, so he didn't have a robe for you to sit on. If he had been your Papa you would have sat on the robe.

The big man stopped when he felt your claws poke through his pants and he looked down at you with wide eyes. He had very big eyes, you observed. They didn't glow like your Papa's eyes did, but they sparkled just like the button you had found.

"Do you want to be carried?" he asked as you climbed a little higher up his leg. Your Papa carried the younger ones sometimes. Sometimes he picked up one of the younger ones and then forgot that he was holding them and they got to be carried around until he noticed them again. You'd never been carried by your Papa before.

The big man wrapped you in the sack first, and your eyes widened as you were lifted up.

You could see _everything_ from there.

The big man laughed, and it wasn't like your Papa's laugh, or the cold boy's laugh. It was big, loud, and warm. You reached up and grabbed hold of the big man's fluffy beard, yanking on it with a squeak. Your Papa didn't have hair on his face like the big man.

"Do not pull on beard, little one. That is very naughty." The big man scolded, tugging his beard. You didn't know what "naughty" meant, but you let his beard go anyway because at that moment one of the Phils walked by with an armful of books. They weren't as big as the books your Papa had, and they were much brighter. They reminded you of the mama bird with all their colors.

"You like the books, little one? Do you want to see the library?" The big man asked, also watching the Phil that was carrying the books.

You chirped in surprise.

Your Papa had a library. It was really, really big and you got lost in it sometimes so you didn't like to go in there. Your Papa didn't like you going in there either because he didn't like it when you touched the books. The big man didn't seem to understand this because he took you there anyway, but when you got there you forgot that you weren't supposed to touch the books because there were _so_ _many_. And some of them had shiny gold squiggles on them! Your Papa _loved_ shiny gold things!

"Do you want to read this one?" The big man asked, pointing to the book with the shiny gold squiggles. You whined and stretched for the book and the big man laughed. "I will take that as a 'yes', I think." The big man said, pulling the book from its shelf.

"This is very special book." The big man told you as he looked at the front cover. You agreed with him. The gold squiggles looked just like the gold on your Papa's shiny gold necklace!

"This book was made by Mother Goose. I do not know if you remember her. Maybe you know her as Katherine?" He was saying as he walked away from the other books. You didn't know what he was talking about, but you remembered the colorful mama bird with the babies. Was there another mama bird? A mama goose? You weren't sure you remembered a "Katherine", but maybe your Papa knew about a Katherine.

The big man kept talking but you weren't listening. You wanted to look inside the special book, so you grabbed at it eagerly until the big man carried it over to a table and set it down. It wasn't round so you didn't think there would be knights at the table. When the big man opened the book you squeaked with delight because there were pictures _and_ stories!

"Would you like me to read it for you?" He suggested, and you nodded because you very much _did_ want him to read to you.

The big man laughed one of his big booming laughs and flipped through the pages until he had gotten to the front of the book. He used funny voices while he read, like your Papa did, but they didn't sound like your Papa's funny voices. You didn't really mind though, because this book had your Papa in it! You screeched in excitement.

"That's right, it is Pitch." The big man said.

The big man read to you for a long time, not as long as your Papa did, but that was okay you guessed.

You would find your Papa soon.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** If you want to see what our little fearling drew, check out my deviantart. My username is MonsterBrush.


	4. Bunny's Shift

"But what am I supposed to do with it?" The bunny asked, eyeing you strangely. You eyed him back because you didn't know why he was here at the big man's place. You didn't like the bunny, but the bunny didn't like you either so it was fair. You wanted to stay with the big man and listen to him read the book with your Papa in it.

"It is easy. You do not have to do anything. Just do not let it scratch book and keep it on leash. It will be fine." The big man replied calmly.

"Book? You're letting that thing play with one of Katherine's books?!" The bunny yelled, and you held the book a little bit tighter because you didn't want the bunny to make you put it down. You liked the book.

"It is not playing. It likes pictures." The big man explained.

They weren't talking to you so you ignored them in favor of trying to look into the strange basket that the bunny was carrying. He stepped away when you tried to peek over the edge of the basket and you whined when the itchy rope didn't let you follow him.

"North! What does it want, why is it—North?!" The bunny called as the big man started walking away. You had seen the big man start to leave so you didn't know why the bunny was so surprised. He gave you another weird look and took a seat at the big round table, far away from you. You couldn't follow because of the rope that was tied to one of the table legs. That was okay though, because you had the special bag, and your drawings, and the shiny things, and the book with your Papa in it!

The big man had said you could look at the book as long as you didn't scratch it or chew on it or let the little things in red touch it, and that was easy. You knew how not to hurt books because your Papa hated when you hurt the books. And this book was extra special because your Papa was in it. You swelled up really big when you saw the little things and you screamed really loud when they got too close. They would run and hide, which was fun except you weren't allowed to chase them, which you wanted to do because that was one of your Papa's favorite games.

Your Papa loved to play tag, and hide-and-seek.

You were happy that the big man let you look at the book because the bunny didn't talk to you like the big man did. The bunny didn't talk to you at all. Instead he acted like you weren't even there (your Papa did that too sometimes).

You liked to flip through the pages of the book (very carefully, because you knew paper could rip sometimes) until you came across a picture.

One time you found a picture of your Papa! It didn't look like your Papa at first because his hair was so long and his robe was so fancy, but you liked the picture very much. You couldn't find it now though because you turned the page and lost it, but you hoped you would find it again because looking at squiggles wasn't as fun as looking at pictures.

There was also a picture of the little glowing man. You didn't like that picture because you were still looking for your Papa's picture.

You also found a picture of a lady with a lot of hair but she wasn't your Papa either. You thought that maybe she was the mama goose the big man told you about but she didn't have feathers like the mama bird so maybe she was Katherine.

You still hadn't found your Papa's picture, but you decided to see what the bunny was doing first.

You didn't know what the bunny was doing because you couldn't see him, but it must have been something quiet because he wasn't making any sounds.

You wanted to get on the table, but you didn't want to leave the special bag or the book with your Papa in it on the floor where the little things in red could get to it.

There was a chair nearby that you thought you could climb on, but you put the book on it first because it was very special. The bag didn't want to stay on the chair when you put it there, but you figured out how to pull yourself up with one hand so you could pull the special bag up afterwards.

Next you put the book up on the table, but you tried not to make a sound because the bunny still wasn't making any noises and your Papa didn't like it when you made noises while it was quiet.

When you got up on the table you were confused because the first thing you saw were colors. Lots of colors. So many colors that you thought maybe the mama bird had come back while you weren't looking, but it wasn't the mama bird at all. It was the bunny, except the bunny was wearing glasses now, and the things that were in the basket were eggs, but some of the eggs didn't look like eggs because eggs weren't supposed to be colorful you thought, unless they were the mama bird's eggs? She was so colorful, and her babies were so colorful, so maybe her eggs were colorful too.

You forgot about the itchy rope that kept you from going anywhere, so you didn't know why you could only reach halfway across the round table at first. Even when you stretched your arms really far you couldn't reach the basket full of eggs or the bunny or the little bowls of pretty colors. Some of the colors were _shiny_.

"Oi, stay put and read your book." The bunny ordered, but he wasn't your Papa so you didn't listen to him. Instead you let out a long whine and rolled across the tabletop because you were already lying down and you wanted to see if you could get closer.

You had already looked through the book, you tried to explain, and you needed the big man to read it to you because you couldn't read (you would have liked for your Papa to read it to you more but you needed to find him first). The bunny didn't seem to understand this because he pulled the bowls of colors and the basket of eggs further away from you, which you thought was unfair because it had already been out of reach and he wasn't sharing. You knew what sharing was because your Papa had told you about it.

"What is it? What do you want?" The bunny demanded, glaring at you over his glasses as he put the half colored egg down. You whined louder.

You wanted your Papa! You must have told the bunny this before, but the Bunny didn't understand. He must not know who your Papa was, you thought, so you needed to show him, you decided.

You opened the special book with your Papa in it and flipped through the pages (you were sure to turn them very carefully) and even though it took you a while, you found your Papa's picture again. You turned the book upside down so the bunny could see it and you pointed at the picture with a screech. The bunny narrowed his eyes at the picture and his long ears fell down.

"Look little fella, I don't know how to make you understand this, but that ain't your papa." The bunny said, and you screamed because it most definitely was your Papa. You knew this because you called him Papa, and the other younger ones called him Papa, and the older ones called him Papa, and even though they were all gone now you still called him Papa because that's exactly what he was. Maybe the bunny didn't recognize your Papa in the book because he looked different. You knew just what to do, so you showed the bunny the drawing you made of your Papa instead, because your drawing looked just like him, you thought.

The bunny looked at your picture for a long time without moving (you thought you saw his nose twitch but you weren't sure). Then the bunny laughed. It was quiet and rumbly and not at all like your Papa's laugh, or the cold boy's laugh, or even the big man's laugh.

"Not bad." He said, and you chirped because it was a very good drawing if you said so yourself. You put your drawing in the book next to your Papa's picture and looked down at them side by side.

You missed your Papa. Where had your Papa gone? Why did he go away? You sniffled quietly because the bunny was quiet too and you wanted to stop sniffling but you couldn't because you needed your Papa. You made yourself small and decided you wanted to go back into the special bag with the sparkly button and the bits of shiny glass and the crayons and the drawings, so you took the book with your Papa's pictures in it and you crawled into the special bag.

It was nice and dark inside the special bag and you wondered if your Papa would find you while you were inside it. But there was only the stupid bunny outside the bag and he didn't think your Papa was your Papa. You hoped your Papa was looking for you, but he probably thought you were still in your cage like you were supposed to be. You wished you hadn't left your Papa's place, even if your Papa wasn't there.

You tried to be quiet. You really, really tried. You tried so hard but you must not have been quiet enough because the bunny was poking at the special bag for some reason. You weren't sure if you had been very loud but you hadn't really been paying attention. You stopped making small noises when the bunny started talking to you.

"Hey mate, you don't gotta cry." The bunny said.

You weren't crying, you told him. You _weren't_! You didn't cry because your Papa told you not to, and you always did what your Papa told you to do.

"Come on kiddo, it's okay. You wanna paint some eggs?" he asked, and you peeked your head out because you didn't know what "painting" was or why you'd want to paint eggs, but you forgot about that because there were bowls full of shiny colors outside the special bag!

"That's it, come on out." The bunny said, and you did but not because he told you to. You just wanted to get a closer look at the colors.

"We're gonna paint some Easter eggs." The bunny told you, and he gave you an egg. But it wasn't a normal egg because this egg had legs! You thought that maybe it would run away with them but the bunny held it still and it stayed put. He gave you a stick with fur on it and you were confused because you'd never seen a stick like it before. Then the bunny showed you that if you dipped the furry part into the bowls of shiny colors you could smear the colors onto the egg! You didn't know what this "Easter" thing was, but it sure seemed nice.

The bunny let you look at _all_ of the colors, and he showed you some of the pretty eggs he had already painted that you thought were nice but you thought you could do better.

You thought that maybe you would paint your Papa on the egg because that was what you'd done with the crayons earlier, but there weren't any black colors in the bowls. You wanted to ask if you could use your crayons on the egg, but then you saw a bowl of shiny _gold_ and you decided you wanted to use that instead because you didn't have a gold crayon.

You dragged the bowl over to the egg and dipped the special stick into it. You used the wrong end at first, but you fixed it, except it was really slow and you didn't like that because you could only use a little of the gold but you wanted to use _all_ of the gold. You put down the weird stick and picked up the egg instead (you were super extra careful because you knew that eggs were supposed to be fragile), and you put the egg into the bowl with a triumphant squeak because now it was shiny and gold all over!

"That's one way of doing it." The bunny said. You thought it was the best way of doing it because the bunny hadn't even painted one half of the egg he was holding, and he wasn't using gold either.

The egg was kicking its little legs and you realized that maybe it was stuck, so you reached in to take it out of the shiny gold paint, and the paint made your hands shiny and gold too! You showed the bunny your hands with a squeal and he chuckled.

"That's very pretty. You like the gold eh?" He said, and you reached out your hands because maybe he wanted some gold colors too.

"Whoa, hey mate, not the fur not the fur!" You thought yes the fur, and wiped your hands on the bunny's furry arm because maybe if he used his fur instead of the fur on the end of the paintbrush he could finish painting his egg faster.

"Cheeky bugger." He grumbled, looking at the pretty gold. You didn't know what those words meant (you didn't know what a lot of the bunny's words meant), but you didn't care because your egg was walking away! It's little feet made little drops of gold on the table for you to follow, and you followed it right up to the basket and carried it back over to the special bag. You thought your Papa would love it. It was shiny and gold, just how he liked.

"Hold on mate, you gotta let the poor googie dry." The bunny exclaimed as he picked up your egg and set it down next to you. "Don't touch it until it's dry, 'kay?" he said, and you nodded because you guessed you could wait. As long as you could touch it later. It wasn't like your Papa's gold necklace, so you thought you should be allowed to touch the egg.

You played in the bowls and watched the bunny paint the rest of the eggs while you waited for your egg to dry. You liked to put your hands in the paint and then slap them on the table because they made pretty shapes when you did that. The bunny told you not to mix the colors, so you just played in the gold paint, but that was okay because you didn't like the others.

Well, there was a bowl of blue colors that reminded you of the cold boy that you thought was okay, and a lot of the colors reminded you of the mama bird and those were okay too. But only those colors were okay. Gold was the best color though, even if it reminded you of the little glowing man, because it also reminded you of your Papa.

The bunny said you could keep the egg, and you thought that was nice even though you didn't know where to put it because it was so fragile. But then the bunny gave you a little basket full of grassy stuff that was just the right size to put your egg in. You still couldn't put it in the special bag, but the basket had a grabby thing so you could carry it around (you didn't carry it around too much because it was heavy).

The bunny sighed at you a lot when he thought you weren't looking. You just pretended to not notice, and the bunny sighed like the big man had sighed. It reminded you of how your Papa sounded when he got tired or went into that room you couldn't go in.

You hoped your Papa would like the egg.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** As always, I have drawn an illustration to accompany this chapter. Check it out on my deviantart page under the username MonsterBrush if you'd like to see our little fearling. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


	5. Sandy's Shift

The little glowing man was back. You didn't know why he was back, but you didn't like it and you hid inside the special bag with your drawings, and the shiny things, and the gold egg, and the book with your Papa in it.

The big man was back too. He looked at the round table and laughed at the pretty gold paint you had put on it with your hands.

"Ran into trouble, Bunny?" The big man asked. The bunny was also covered in pretty gold paint. You thought it looked nice.

"No. No trouble at all. Kiddo liked the paint. Sorry bout the table." The bunny said, and you squeaked because you _had_ liked the paint. Even though you ran out of the gold paint after playing in it for a while.

The big man laughed again and said that the table was fine. You thought it looked better than it had before now that there was gold all over it. They talked for a long time about stuff you didn't understand. Except for the little glowing man. He didn't talk at all, but he did look at you a lot.

"Well, better head back to the warren. Good luck Sandy. See ya later little fella." The bunny said, waving his paw at you when he saw you peeking out of the bag, and you wailed because why was the bunny leaving? You didn't want the bunny to leave. You wanted to paint more eggs and play in the bowls of color and help the bunny put paint on his fur. You didn't want him to leave, because what if he didn't come back? Then you'd have to look for him and your papa!

But the bunny left and it was just you and the little glowing man and the big man. You wanted the big man to read to you from the book that had your Papa in it. You showed him the book and whined because the big man was working, he said. He would read to you later, he said.

Now you were alone with the little glowing man. You looked at him, and he looked at you, and neither of you moved for a long time because you knew if you moved that would mean you lost and you didn't want to loose to the little man. You weren't scared. You definitely weren't scared of the little man and his angry light and the stories the older ones had told you about.

You weren't hiding, you told the little man as you crawled into the special bag that had all of your special things inside it. You just wanted to be in the special bag that was all. The little man opened his mouth and you thought that maybe he was laughing except that no sound came out, which was strange but you didn't mind that he was quiet. Maybe your Papa would have liked the little glowing man because he didn't make sounds and was shiny and gold. But he was also bright and strong, and you knew your Papa didn't like those things.

The Phils came into the room and gave the little man a cup of something, and a container. He poured something into the cup and took a sip.

" _I'd like to ask you some questions, if you don't mind."_ It was that voice again, the one that wasn't real but you thought it was. You supposed you didn't mind, so you agreed to answer the questions. The little man sat on a pillow made of golden sand with the cup in his hands and the container in his lap.

" _Where are the nightmares?"_ The voice wanted to know.

That was the word your Papa called the youngest ones. The ones that were younger than you were. They hadn't been at your Papa's place when you had been looking for your Papa, and you were glad they weren't there because you didn't like the youngest ones. They chased you and that hadn't been fair because you were in a cage and they weren't.

" _Where are the rest of the fearlings?"_ The voice asked.

They were gone, you said. You couldn't remember when they had left, but you remembered a time when your cage was full of others, and then after a while there had been only you.

" _Where have they gone?"_

That was a hard question. You didn't know where they were. You didn't think they left, because they would have taken you with them. The older ones always said not to leave the group. "Safety in numbers" your Papa had once told you.

" _Why were you in a cage when Jack found you?"_

That question was easy! Your Papa had put you there!

The little man set down his cup and leaned forward on the golden pillow.

" _Why?"_

You tried to remember why. You thought that maybe he had wanted to be alone, or maybe you had done something wrong. You didn't think you'd done anything wrong, but if you hadn't done anything wrong, why had your Papa locked you away?

You didn't like that question.

" _Do you remember anything from before Pitch took you?"_ The voice was wondering.

You sat down and thought about it. Your Papa used to take you lots of places, before he had locked you away. Sometimes you got to play tag or hide-and-seek with children and that was always fun. You were the best ever at hide-and-seek. You always found the hiding children for your Papa.

" _Why do you think Pitch is your papa?"_ The voice asked. It sounded like the bunny had, and you squeaked indignantly because why didn't anyone believe you? Your Papa taught you games and read you books and did all the things that papas did. The voice seemed to sigh in your ear, and it was a sad sound.

Did you do something wrong?

" _No."_ The voice said, but it still sounded sad. The little man wiped his eyes and you wondered if he had gotten sand in them because there was sand _everywhere._

" _What are you doing?"_ The voice asked suddenly.

You were bored now and you wanted to play, so you were trying to get out of the itchy ropes but you couldn't slip out like you thought you could.

" _You need to keep the harness on."_ The voice told you, and you whined because you didn't want to keep it on. The long rope kept getting stuck on things and you didn't like it at all. The voice asked you if there was anything else you wanted to do.

You asked if the voice would play with you, and it said yes. Then it asked you what you wanted to play. You loved tag and hide-and-seek (you thought you must have told it this before) but the voice said no to those games. It asked if you knew any other games. You had to sit and think about it, but you thought that maybe you knew some other games.

There was the game you played with the cold boy, where you had to stay put and not move until he came back. That game wasn't very fun, but you were very good at it.

Then there was the wrestling game you used to play with the other younger ones. Sometimes you played wrestle with other things too. Like the little glowing moonbeams that you saw when your Papa took you outside to sneak around. They chased you and your Papa a lot, and they didn't like you very much, but that was okay you thought, because you didn't like them very much either. You hadn't wrestled with a moonbeam in a very long time. You _never_ wrestled with children though. That wasn't nice, your Papa said, and he didn't like it when you wrestled with children.

The voice didn't like those games either, but those were the only games you knew how to play.

You wanted to play hide-and-seek, you told the glowing man.

The little glowing man sighed and shook his head, but the voice said yes, it would play hide-and-seek with you, but first it wanted to explain the rules. You already knew the rules!

But this game was different, the voice said. And the voice was right.

The first rule was you had to keep the itchy ropes on, but the little man untied the rope from the round table so you could move around. You could keep the itchy ropes on, you said.

The second rule was that you had to stay in the room with the round table, and you could do that too, even if you weren't used to playing in such a small area.

The third rule was you had to take turns being the hider and the seeker. You'd never been the hider before.

You and the younger ones and the older ones had always been the seekers, and the only rules were to bring the hiders to your Papa and not to hurt them either. You were great at hide-and-seek with your Papa, but you guessed you could be great at hide-and-seek with the voice and the little glowing man too.

The voice said that it would hide first, and it told you to cover your eyes and count to ten and not to peek. You didn't know how to count that high, you whined. Your Papa never used to make you count during hide-and-seek, you grumbled.

The voice asked for a piece of paper and a crayon, and you thought that maybe it wanted to make a drawing so you gave it the paper and one of your crayons (you gave it the orange crayon because you didn't like that one the most). The little man took the paper and the orange crayon and you thought that he was drawing something, but when he put the crayon down and moved away all that was on the paper was a bunch of squiggles.

" _These are numbers."_ The voice told you while the little man showed you the squiggles, and you nodded because you guessed that was what they were (you didn't think the little man drew very good though). _"I'm going to teach you how to count to ten."_ The voice added, and you sighed because you still didn't see why you needed to count during hide-and-seek. You thought that maybe your Papa counted when you played, but you were always busy trying to find the hider so you didn't know for sure.

The little man pointed to one of the squiggles.

" _This is the number one."_ The voice said, then it asked you to repeat what it had said, so you did. The little man kept pointing to squiggles and saying numbers, and you kept repeating them. You weren't too good at remembering the squiggles' names, but the voice said that if you pointed to each squiggle and said "Mansnoozie" afterwards until you'd pointed to each one on the paper, and then you would say "Ready or not, here I come" which you thought was weird because why would you tell the hider that you were seeking?

It asked you to practice to make sure you did it right, so you did, and the voice told you to go into the special bag and do it again while it hid so you wouldn't know where to look. You understood that part, because trying to find the hider was the best part of hide-and-seek!

You crawled into the bag with the paper and started to count.

One Mansnoozie…

Two Mansnoozie…

Three Mansnoozie…

Four Mansnoozie…

… Seven Mansnoozie?

… Something Mansnoozie…

Something Mansnoozie…

Something Mansnoozie…

Nine Mansnoozie…

Ten Mansnoozie!

Ready or not, here you come!

You crawled out of the bag and looked around.

The little man wasn't on the round table with you anymore, and neither was the pillow he had been sitting on. Maybe he was hiding. The little glowing man was almost child-sized, so he was probably hiding somewhere child-sized too. There weren't any beds in this room (you knew children could fit under beds, and that sometimes they hid there when they didn't know that your Papa was there too, but those games were always really short). There also weren't any closets in the room, so you didn't have those places to look for the little glowing man either. That was okay though, because there were lots of child-sized hiding places left for you to look.

You hopped down from the table and landed on the floor with a loud smack, and you squealed because you found the little glowing man! He was hiding under the table! You knew you were good at hide-and-seek!

The little man grinned and applauded, but his hands didn't make any sound when he clapped them together. Then the voice said that it was _your_ turn to hide, and that it would cover its eyes and count to ten while you did. You'd never been the hider before, but you were supposed to be great at hide-and-seek so you supposed you would give it a try.

The little man covered his eyes with his little hands, and you hear the voice start to count.

" _One Mansnoozie…"_

You jolted in panic. Ten wasn't a lot of numbers.

" _Two Mansnoozie…"_

Where should you hide? There weren't any beds or closets, and you couldn't hide in the special bag because you were sure the voice would look for you there, and the little man had already hidden under the table so you couldn't hide there either.

" _Three Mansnoozie…"_

You scrambled towards the sides of the room and looked around for a place to hide.

" _Four Mansnoozie…"_

You were child-sized, but you could fit in not-child-sized hiding places because you were super flexible.

" _Five Mansnoozie…"_

There was a fireplace on one wall, and a bookshelf on the other. You scrambled to the bookshelf and started to climb.

" _Six Mansnoozie…"_

You climbed and climbed until you thought that maybe you were as high as you had been when the big man had carried you, which was very high because the big man was even taller than your Papa!

" _Seven Mansnoozie…"_

You squeezed yourself into the gap between the tops of the books and the bottom of the next shelf, and you tucked yourself as far back into the little space as you could. It was a very clever hiding spot, you thought to yourself, and you were very proud as you listened to the voice finish counting.

" _Eight Mansnoozie… Nine Mansnoozie… Ten Mansnoozie! Ready or not, here I come!"_

You saw the little man lower his hands and blink slowly as he looked around the room.

Just like you thought, he checked inside the special bag first, but you weren't in there of course!

Next he looked under the table, and you had to cover your mouth with both hands to keep from giggling because you weren't there either!

The little glowing man seemed confused as he waddled around the room, scanning the floor, but you weren't on the floor. You were up high!

He glanced at the bookshelf several times, but he never saw you of course because you were the best ever at hide and seek. Silly little man.

The little glowing man spent a long time trying to find you. It was only when he started floating that he even noticed where you were hiding, and he looked very surprised to see how well you had hidden yourself. He applauded you again and the voice told you that you had done a great job of hiding and that you must have worked very hard to get up so high. You chirped because it _had_ been a difficult climb, but you were very good at hide-and-seek.

You played hide-and-seek with the little glowing man and the voice for a long time until you had hidden and looked in every single hidey-hole in the room, even the not-so-child-sized spots!

The little man was resting on his golden pillow now, and you were looking through the book with your Papa in it.

The voice had asked if you knew what the book was about. You didn't, but that was because the big man hadn't read very far. That didn't matter though, because the book had your Papa in it, you told the voice.

You looked up to check on the little man after a while and you were shocked by what you saw.

The little man was asleep!

Your Papa hardly ever did that, and when he did he moved around a whole lot. He also screamed a lot which was scary because when your Papa screamed that meant he was mad. You didn't go near him when he was mad because he threw things and hit things and everything _hurt_ when he screamed. You didn't know why the older ones went near him while he slept, but you didn't think your Papa would like that if he knew. They would get in trouble if he knew, but he was asleep so they never did get in trouble.

The little man wasn't moving at all, and you thought that even if he were moving he wouldn't scream because he was very quiet.

You wondered what the little man had been drinking, so you peeked inside the cup on the table.

Whatever it was, it smelled nice. It smelled very nice.

If the little man was asleep that meant he wouldn't wake up as long as you were quiet, and you could be quiet. You could be so quiet.

You picked up the cup (with both hands so you wouldn't spill), and you took a sip. It tasted nice too so you took another sip, and then a gulp, and then you kept drinking because it tasted really, really nice.

The little man woke up and took the cup away from you, but that was okay because the cup was empty and you were done with it anyway.

 _"That's not for children."_ The voice scolded. That was the same thing your Papa said when the younger ones took a sip of that yucky juice he liked to drink sometimes. But this wasn't the yucky juice because it tasted good and it made your belly warm which you didn't think you would have liked because warm things usually burned but this time it didn't and it was so very nice.

 _"Do you feel alright?"_ the voice asked, which was very nice of it to ask but you were fine, you said. You were fiiiiiiiiiine, you were fi—

Oh wait…

Now that you thought about it, you felt a little woozy and your tummy was moving and…

Oh no.


	6. Jack's Shift

You hadn't felt very good. You hadn't felt very good at all. But you felt better now, and the round table was black and gold. You had gotten bored of watching the little glowing man clean the table though, so you decided to leave the room with the round table to find something to do. You left the special bag on the round table, but that was okay because you knew where it was so it was fine. The little glowing man didn't even notice you leave.

You wanted to explore the place with the Phils and the little things in red. It was really bright and really noisy but you were brave and you were bored and you were going to _find out what was on top of that table_.

There weren't any chairs nearby for you to climb up on, but that was okay because you could climb right up on the table leg (you had a very strong grip). There was a lot of stuff on the table. It looked like an army of little people, you thought, but they didn't move at all and they reminded you of the big man's drawings. When you touched one it made your hand red. Why was it wet? You touched every single one of them but none of them were dry and all of them made your hands red. You liked the spidery handprints that you made on the table though, even if they weren't shiny and gold.

You found bowls of color nearby and wondered if the bunny had left them there. There weren't any eggs, but you played in the paint anyway because you thought the army of people looked boring when they were all the same color. You made a blue one, and a green one, and a purple one, and a yellow one, but there were so many colors and so many things to paint that you made gave the rest _all_ of the colors. You also spilled a few colors, but it looked nice so it was okay.

The next table you climbed had a tiny house on it, but it didn't have enough walls because you could see right inside it. You wondered if anyone lived in the tiny house, and if they knew that their walls were gone, so you checked inside and found a tiny family. They didn't move when you poked them, so maybe they were asleep. You found some tiny beds in the house and put them there (you checked under the beds first though, just in case your Papa might be hiding there). You found a tiny child in the tiny house and decided you would bring it with you for your Papa.

This place was awfully big, you thought. You wondered if there was an outside. If wasn't as big as your Papa's place, so there must be an outside somewhere, but where? You wanted to find it, you decided, so you started to search.

There were a lot of Phils walking around, you noticed, but they didn't notice you because you were super sneaky. They stepped on you sometimes, but you were okay. The little things in red noticed you though, and they ran when you came near. That was okay though because maybe they wanted to play. Tag was one of your favorite games!

You chased the little things in red under tables and over tables and you were very fast, but you kept bumping into things and the long rope that followed you everywhere kept getting stuck on things. The little things in red were very good at wrestling though. One of the little things in red put its arm around your neck, but you wiggled your way free because you were good at wrestling too. You chased them into a bunch of rooms, and one room smelled super nice and was filled with cookies and fruitcakes and that one good-tasting drink that the voice told you was not for you to drink.

You fell in some white stuff by accident and spilled it on some of the little things in red, but they didn't mind. They weren't like the other younger ones, but they were close, you decided, and they were fun to play with. They gave you cookies, even though you didn't eat the cookies, and showed you eggs that weren't for painting but for throwing.

You heard a loud noise and suddenly the Phils were playing tag, except you were the one being chased, but that was okay because you were very good at running away. They were very big and you were very small and you could slip through not-so-big spots that they couldn't get through. You didn't think you could wrestle with the Phils.

The game ended though when the long rope got stuck on a tree (which was odd because trees weren't supposed to be indoors). There were lots of shiny things on the tree. Some of them were shiny and _gold_ , but you didn't get a good look at them because you were trying to pull the rope free. You must have pulled too hard though because the tree tipped and fell right on top of you! You were okay. You'd been squished before. The youngest ones used to stomp on you sometimes, and you'd been squashed when you were in the special bag, and the Phils stepped on you by mistake sometimes too, so you were fine. Just stuck. Really stuck. Stupid ropey thing.

You squeaked when a very big hand closed around you. The hand was bigger than any hand that had every grabbed you before and it pulled you out of the tree and into the light. The hand belonged to one of the Phils, and it examined you with very mean eyes that you could barely see under its eyebrows. It had a very bushy mustache…

"You found him!" The cold boy exclaimed. You chirped from where you were hanging from the Phil's mustache. Where had the cold boy been? You had wondered where he'd gone, but you were very glad that he was back. "Sandy and I have been looking for him everywherrrrrrr—whoa..." The cold boy said, flying up to the Phil and you.

You had grabbed onto the Phil's mustache and you hadn't let go and didn't _want_ to let go. You whined loudly when the cold boy reached up and tried to pull you away.

"What happened to you, little guy? Ugh, is this... chocolate and flour? And eggs? And paint?" The cold boy asked, grimacing at your hands. You were a little messy, yes. But you'd wash off before you touched the special book you promised.

 _"You weren't supposed to leave the room."_ The voice said sternly, and you hid behind the Phil's bushy mustache at the scary look the little glowing man gave you. It wasn't as scary as your Papa's scary look though.

It was boring in the room with the round table, you complained. You wanted to explore, you said, but you didn't know how to get outside. While you were distracted, the cold boy took you from the Phil's mustache and then he held you, which was nice, except he wasn't nearly as big as the big man.

The cold boy held you nice and tight in his elbow and he let you wrap around his arm while he talked to the Phils. You didn't pay attention to that though (you were pretty sure the Phils couldn't talk anyway since they never used people words) so you showed the cold boy the tiny child you'd found because now you had _two_ children to bring to your Papa! Wasn't that exciting? You were sure the cold boy would be very happy because he was so, so afraid to be alone. The cold boy didn't seem very excited, but he smiled at you and petted your head. You purred because his hand was nice and cold.

The little glowing man made weird shapes over his head appear as he gestured at the cold boy dramatically.

"Right. Sorry Phil. Let's get you out of the yetis' way. Say 'bye' to Sandy." The cold boy told you, and you chirped in confusion. What was sandy? There wasn't any sand indoors, silly cold boy. Sand was outside. But the cold boy lifted your hand and flapped it at the little glowing man, who waved back with a small smile. The smile didn't look happy. It looked sad.

 _"Goodbye little one. I promise I will find a way to help you."_ The voice said. Was it leaving? What did it want to help you with? The only thing you needed help with is finding your Papa, you told it. Your Papa would make everything better, you said, and the little glowing man sighed silently. He gave you a pat on the head and floated out of the room. You hoped the voice would find your Papa.

The cold boy wanted you to say goodbye to the Phils so you flapped your hand at them (they didn't wave back, but the little things in red did), and then he took you away from the noisy place with the colors and lights back to the room with the round table and the special bag. That was when you noticed the flying thing.

One of the mama bird's babies was following the cold boy! She—you thought maybe it was a she because she looked just like the mama bird who was also a she only smaller—was fluttering around very fast and she gave you a very beady glare that made you think maybe grabbing her tail was a bad idea, so you didn't try to grab the baby bird's tail.

"Oh, little guy, this is Baby Tooth. Baby Tooth, this is… uh… Little guy. I guess I'll have to think up a proper name for you, huh?" The cold boy said, and you looked up at the "baby tooth" with a frown. She didn't look like a tooth at all! She looked like a bird, or an insect. But she was a baby, so you guessed the name was okay. She still wasn't a tooth though.

"You know what you need? A bath. Come on, Baby Tooth, lets get him cleaned up." The cold boy said. He carried you to a room you hadn't seen yet and set you down in a big white basin. It was slippery in the basin, but the cold boy told you to stay so you did and then he turned a knob and the basin began to fill with water. You didn't like water. You screeched and screamed and tried to climb out but the cold boy kept putting you back in. You scratched his arms a lot by accident but that was only because he wasn't wearing his hoodie (he said his hoodie was dirty too and sent it away with a Phil to get it washed). He helped you wash the tiny child you'd found because it was messy too. The water you were in wasn't like normal water, you realized. It was white and bubbly and made lots and lots of clouds except you couldn't touch clouds and it smelled like flowers except there weren't any flowers nearby. You liked to throw the bubble clouds and watch them float back down.

The cold boy took you out and set you down on a towel and you whined because you were all wet and drippy. Then the cold boy bundled you up nice and snug in the towel and rubbed you dry. You smelled like flowers now.

"I don't know what everyone's problem is. You're not so bad." The cold boy told you as he carried you from the room and retrieved his hoodie. You agreed. You weren't bad. You always did what your Papa told you because you never hurt the books, or touched the shiny gold necklace, or went in the room that you weren't supposed to go in, you were the best ever at hide-and-seek, and you had a bunch of shiny things to give to your Papa!

"Bunny says you were a child once." The cold boy said, and you were confused because you weren't a child. "What happened to you?" the cold boy wanted to know. "Do you not remember? I lost my memories too, but Tooth helped me find them. Maybe she could help you too." The cold boy suggested and you huffed because _you weren't a child_. You were pretty sure you would have remembered being a child, and if you were a child why would your Papa want one so much?

"You know what? We should get you some clothes." The cold boy set you down on the round table and you squeaked happily because the special bag was still there! You put the tiny child into the special bag. It would be alright, you told it, because the bag was for your Papa and he would like the tiny child very much.

"Come here little guy." The cold boy told you, and you looked up at the sound of jingling, wondering whether one of the little things in red were nearby. The cold boy held out something red and you reached for it curiously. The cold boy shoved the red thing over your head and you shrieked in surprise.

It felt like you were inside the special bag, but there were too many holes in it to be a bag. You had a hole for your face, and a hole for each arm, and one big hole in the bottom. Every time you turned your head you heard a loud jingling sound and something silver and shiny flashed just out of sight. You wanted to catch that shiny silver thing, but you just kept spinning and spinning until you fell on your bottom with a huff.

"Sorry, it was the only thing I could find that would fit you." The cold boy said with a laugh. You looked up at him and whined unhappily. You didn't like the clothes, you thought, but then you looked down at it real close and you were wearing what the little things in red wore!

"Do you like it?" The cold boy asked, and you nodded because you very much did enjoy wearing what the little things in red wore. "BT, can you go get those things I asked you for? I'm going to teach this little guy how to make a snowman. Okay, little guy? How's that sound?"

You grabbed onto the cold boy's clothes and crawled onto his shoulder and he laughed as you put your hands in his hair. It was white like the big man's hair except he let you pull on it if you wanted and he didn't have a beard. The baby tooth didn't look happy that you were sitting on the cold boy's shoulder, but you weren't going to move. You liked it up there. She could sit on his other shoulder if she wanted though (your Papa taught you how to share things with the other younger ones). She didn't sit on the shoulder. Instead she flew off, but that was okay because she didn't have to sit on the cold boy's shoulder if she didn't want to.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." The cold boy laughed. The cold boy's clothes had a little pocket on it right behind his head, you found. A you-sized pocket. You crawled inside and chirped happily because it was the perfect you-sized pocket! It wasn't good for hiding, but it was very good for sitting. "You wanna stay in my hood?" The cold boy asked, and you nodded because you liked the hood very much.

"Alright, hang on tight. We're gonna go play outside and get you out of Phil's hair." The cold boy said. You liked the Phils' hair. It was a very good hiding place.

The cold boy left the special bag on the round table, but you guessed that was okay because the special book was in it and you knew books weren't supposed to go outside, especially not special books that had your Papa in them. You grabbed onto the cold boy's hair and held on tight like he told you to do.

A very strong breeze threw the cold boy into the air and you hissed at it as it tugged at you. You weren't letting go of the cold boy's hair because the cold boy had told you to hold on tight, and you were going to do just that! Nothing the wind could do would make you let go!

The wind carried the cold boy right through an open window and you tucked yourself deeper into the clothes he'd given you because the _Moon_ was out.

Your Papa _hates_ the Moon… sometimes… You weren't sure. Some nights your Papa used to tell you and the others that the Moon was _dangerous_ , and _evil_ and that you were never _ever_ supposed to let the Moon see you without him nearby. If the Moon saw you… _bad things would happen_. You didn't know _what_ things. Only that they were bad. So you always stayed super close to your Papa when the Moon was out. Your Papa's shadow was the safest place in the whole world. You missed it a lot and you wanted very much to hide in it right then when the cold boy landed and started to take you out of his hood.

"Come on little guy. We're gonna play in the snow." He said.

No, no, no, no, no, no! You didn't want to leave the hood! You held on with both hands and didn't let go even when the cold boy asked you to.

"Hey, it's okay, it's just snow. Look, see?" The cold boy was worried you weren't going to play with him, because that would mean you were rejecting him and then he would be alone and he was scared of that, you knew. But you weren't going to do that because you were taking him to your Papa so he wouldn't be alone anymore. You just didn't want the Moon to see you or else… the _bad things._

But wait… no bad things were happening. Could the Moon not see you? But why? You had to think hard about it but then you realized why.

The Moon must think you were one of the little things in red! But you weren't, silly Moon! You let go of the cold boy's hood and let him lower you onto the snow. You knew what snow was. You'd seen it sometimes with your Papa. You've never played with it before though.

You looked up at the cold boy and held out a handful of snow. What did the cold boy want you to do with it? You couldn't play hide-and-seek with the snow because it couldn't hide or seek very well. You couldn't play tag with it either because it couldn't run very well (but the wind could run _very_ well, because it had carried the cold boy very fast). You weren't sure you couldn't wrestle with the snow, but you'd never tried.

"Do you know how to play with snow?" The cold boy asked, and you shook your head because you didn't. The cold boy laughed and knelt down as he took the snow from you. "Like this." He said, and he cupped his hands around the snow. When he opened his hands again the snow was a perfect ball. He set the ball down and handed you some snow. You nearly dropped it through your fingers at first. "Now you try." The cold boy said.

You looked down at the ball the cold boy had made, and then back to the snow in your hands. You cupped your fingers carefully like the cold boy had.

Like this, you wondered. You opened your hands like the cold boy had and the snow fell apart on your palms. Not like that, apparently, and you wailed because what had gone wrong? You'd done exactly what the cold boy had done so why? _Why_?!

"It's okay, don't get upset, look." The cold boy grabbed your hands and folded them around the snow again and then he _pressed_ and when he opened your hands a perfect ball was sitting on your palms. Ohhhhh!

You set your ball beside the ball the cold boy had made and scooped up more snow. You cupped your hands, _pressed,_ and made another ball! Success!

"Wow, look at you! You're a fast learner." The cold boy praised. "Now I'm going to teach you how to make them bigger." He said. How big were you going to make them?

Very big.

Bigger than you were.

The cold boy showed you how to roll the ball you had made (you couldn't push too hard though otherwise your hands got stuck and the ball broke apart), and the more you rolled it the bigger the ball grew until it became too big for you to push anymore, but you still tried because the cold boy's ball of snow was much bigger than yours. But then you pushed too hard and your hands got stuck.

"That's big enough little gu—woah!" the cold boy yelped and you shrieked because the ball was rolling but you weren't pushing! Your hands were still stuck so the ball took you with it and started rolling faster and faster. You kept getting squished but you didn't care about that because you were getting more stuck and you couldn't get unstuck. You were getting dizzy too. _Really_ dizzy. So dizzy that even though the ball had stopped spinning the world was still whirling.

"You okay?" The cold boy asked as he peeled you from the snow. You didn't feel so good again…

The cold boy laughed and told you to wait by your snowball, so you did. You were very good at the wait-for-the-cold-boy-to-come-back game. When the cold boy did come back he was carrying his own snowball and he dropped the ball on top of yours because wow your snowball had grown very big when it had rolled with you on it. The cold boy made one more sort of big snowball and he put it on top of the stack of snowballs. Then he stepped back and waved his arms at the stack of snow and you blinked up at it, confused.

"It's a snowman!" The cold boy exclaimed, and you frowned at the snow. It didn't look like any 'man' you'd ever seen before, and you told him as much. "Not impressed huh?" The cold boy asked as he stepped back to examine their work beside you. "It does look pretty plain, doesn't it? Maybe we should decorate it?" he suggested. You shook your head.

The lack of decorations wasn't the problem. The problem was that the snowman didn't look like a man at all! Hadn't he been listening? Just then the Baby Tooth returned with a bag bigger than she was.

"Sorry BT, he doesn't like the snowman. I don't think a carrot and some coal is going to help." He told her with a shrug. The baby tooth dropped the bag with a loud huff and sat on the cold boy's shoulder. She crossed her arms and glared at you but you didn't care because you were going to build a _proper_ snowman. One that looked like your Papa!

"Hey little guy, whatcha making?" the cold boy asked. Your Papa, you chirped as you clawed handfuls of snow towards you and patted them into a pile. The cold boy nodded solemnly as he crouched by your work.

"Your papa. That's Pitch, right?" he said, and you nodded vigorously because yes he was your Papa! No one else thought he was, but the cold boy understood. He didn't ask you any questions about your Papa afterwards either. Your Papa would like the cold boy.

"Can I help you make a Pitch snowman?" The cold boy asked. You nodded because that would be very nice.

The cold boy was very helpful, you thought. He helped you get lots and lots of snow, and he helped you pat it down to keep it from falling apart. He was very good at keeping the snow from falling apart. He helped until the pile was as tall and thin as your Papa (you were very careful to make sure it looked right). He even helped you make your Papa's face, which you thought looked very much like your Papa. But then the cold boy wanted to put two pieces of coal on your Papa's face for his eyes and you told him no. Your Papa's eyes weren't black! You looked around in the bag that the baby tooth had brought and to your delight you found a bunch of shiny gold coins that you thought were perfect for your Papa's shiny gold eyes.

"I'd say it looks just like Pitch, what do you think?" The cold boy said as you both stepped back to look at your work. You nodded. It looked just like your Papa. The shadow it cast wasn't at all as dark as the one your Papa made, but that was okay you thought as you curled up against your snowPapa's snowy robe, even though it wasn't the same as your _real_ Papa. It was safe in the shadow, and you took off the clothes that the little things in red wore because the Moon couldn't see you behind the snowPapa.

"You really miss him, don't you?" The cold boy asked, sitting next to you in your snowPapa's shadow. You nodded with a sniffle. You missed your Papa a lot.

The cold boy gathered you up and held you really close. "It's going to be okay. We will find him." He said, squeezing you tightly, but he didn't squish you, which was nice. The cold boy wasn't so bright right then, and he let you squeeze him back and you stayed in your snowPapa's shadow with the cold boy for a long time.

Your Papa would like the cold boy a lot.


	7. Tooth's Shift

You sat with the cold boy in your snowPapa's shadow for a long time. You liked sitting with the cold boy. He didn't talk to you much, but he petted you a lot and you wondered if maybe this was what it was like to sit in your Papa's lap too.

The cold boy sat up suddenly and you whined because he had stopped petting you but then you stopped because you'd never seen the sky do _that_ before. Instead of stars there were _colors_ , and you cooed in amazement. The cold boy wasn't amazed. He looked very serious and you didn't like that look on his face, you decided.

"Come on, little guy. Time to go back to the workshop." He told you, and you hid yourself inside the cold boy's hoodie because you weren't wearing the clothes that the little things in red wore anymore. The wind couldn't pull you off while you were in the hoodie so you didn't have to hold on so tight while the cold boy flew, and the Moon couldn't see you either. You wrapped your arms around the cold boy's middle and clung to him securely, feeling very happy under the hoodie.

"Hey North! Why'd you light the Guardian signal?" You heard the cold boy ask as he landed.

"I will explain when others arrive. Where is the fearling?" The big man asked.

"He's right here." The cold boy said as he lifted the hoodie. You hissed at the light and crawled up his torso into the hoodie to hide, making the cold boy laugh.

The cold boy sat down with you again but you didn't want to leave the hoodie so you stayed inside it and nestled up against the cold boy comfortably.

"Why don't we think up a good name for you while we wait?" The cold boy suggested, peeking down the front of his hoodie at you. You chirped up at him curiously.

"Shadow? No. Blacky? Also no. Okay, what about… Mini Pitch? Pitch Junior. Pitch—"

"Mate, what're ya doin? And where's the fearling?"

You knew that voice. That was the bunny's voice. You climbed up the inside of the cold boy's hoodie and peeked out from under his chin. It _was_ the bunny! You flapped your hand at the bunny with a squeak. The bunny looked very surprised to see you but he waved back very slowly.

"Uh, hey kiddo." The bunny said as he sat down at the round table with the cold boy. "So, what were you sayin to it? Something about Pitch?" The bunny asked.

"I was trying to come up with a name for the little guy." The cold boy replied, poking you from the outside of the hoodie. You wiggled and squealed, poking him back with one finger. "How do you feel about Pitch Junior?" the cold boy asked. The bunny sighed heavily (they sighed a lot around you for some reason) and shook his head.

"Try not to get too attached mate." The bunny said. You squeaked because the cold boy wasn't attached to anything. He was very _un_ attached, you thought. At least, he _looked_ like he wasn't attached to anything, but you supposed that maybe he might be stuck to that stick that he always carried around because he never seemed to put it down.

You remembered when your Papa got stuck to his shiny gold necklace once because he never put it down. He hadn't been able to let it go and you had been worried that his hand would never release it. You didn't know how he got it off, but maybe if he wore the necklace instead of holding it he wouldn't have gotten stuck in the first place.

You saw the little glowing man float into the room, and while you were waving at him the mama bird flew in! You hadn't seen the mama bird in a while but you were happy to see her again. You wondered why they were all here.

"Hi Tooth." The cold boy said.

"Hello Ja—oh! Um… Hi." The mama bird started to fly close but she lurched back when she noticed you. You waved at her too, and also her little babies because they were with her but you didn't grab any of them because they weren't close enough and you were happy in the cold boy's hoodie. Maybe she wanted her other baby back, because you remembered that the cold boy had one of her babies with him. Sure enough the baby tooth left the cold boy's shoulder and flew up to her mama with a happy squeak. The mama bird looked happy to see her baby again.

"Oi, North! Care to explain why you called us here? Do we have a lead on Pitch?" The bunny barked suddenly, and you had to stretch your neck to look up at the big man.

"No. Quiet the opposite." The big man said gravely. "Sandy and I have been talking and we noticed something very concerning… Jack, would you please take fearling out of shirt." The big man said, and you squealed and flailed as the cold boy pulled you out of his hoodie and lowered you onto the round table.

"Little one." The big man said softly, and you looked at the big man expectantly. You didn't have to look up at him like you usually did. He was crouching at your eye level and his face didn't look as happy as it usually did. "Can you read?" he asked. You shook your head and looked around in confusion. The bunny slapped his forehead with a growl and the mama bird gasped.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." The bunny groaned, slumping down in his seat.

"Does this mean we've been looking for Pitch in the wrong places?!" The mama bird exclaimed. She sounded upset.

"Oops?" The cold boy said with a small laugh.

Why were they all staring at you like that? Did you do something wrong? If you did you were sorry. You were good. You didn't mean to be bad.

Were you in trouble, you wanted to know. The big man shook his head and said no, you weren't in trouble. They were just disappointed, he said, but that was just as bad as being in trouble you thought.

"There is small chance that fearling recognized the geography on globe, but it cannot read. We will just have to come up with another plan to find Pitch." The big man told them.

You were sorry. You were very, very sorry, even though you weren't sure why you needed to be. You didn't want to get locked away again. You just wanted to be with your Papa. Were they still going to look for your Papa? You hoped that they would.

"Does that mean we don't need to keep the fearling around anymore?" The bunny asked, looking at you strangely.

"We will be keeping the fearling. I will not abandon it." The big man said to the others. "It is going to be alright little one. We _will_ find Pitch." The big man told you, but it wasn't going to be alright until you found your Papa. Your Papa would make everything better.

You crawled into the special bag because everyone was still looking at you and you didn't like it when they looked at you like that. You hid in the very, very bottom with the special things for your Papa.

You stayed in the bag while the big man talked to the others about finding your Papa. You were happy they were still looking for him. The big man suggested that they ask the Moon for help, which you thought was very silly because the Moon didn't like your Papa, and your Papa was very good at hiding from the Moon. He taught you how to hide from the Moon too. Maybe that was why they couldn't find your Papa, because he was hiding. If he was hiding, you weren't sure you would ever be able to find him then, because your Papa was the best hider in the whole entire world. Even though he was not child-sized, your Papa could even hide in smaller-than-child-sized hiding places.

The cold boy picked you up again and carried you somewhere (you didn't know where though because you were still in the special bag), and you heard him speak to someone quietly.

"Hey, Tooth?" The cold boy said.

"Hello Jack. Is that the fearling?" You heard the mama bird ask.

"Yeah. I wanted to ask you something about him." The cold boy didn't sound happy like he usually did, and you wondered what was wrong. The mama bird asked what was wrong too.

"The fearling used to be a child, before Pitch… and I was just wondering if you could help him remember." The cold boy explained, and you were confused because was there another child here that you hadn't found? Maybe that was why they were disappointed in you, because you always found the children for your Papa.

"Oh… oh, Jack. I could try, but even if I had its teeth from when it was a child, I wouldn't know which teeth belonged to it. The way it is now, I can't even tell whether the fearling was a boy or a girl, let alone who it was, and the way it is now, I don't think there's any way to reverse what Pitch did." The mama bird told the cold boy. She didn't sound happy either and you crawled out of the special bag to see her frowning at you. Was she mad at you? She didn't look mad. She looked sad.

"Oh…" The cold boy said softly, and you wheezed as he squished you in his arms. You didn't know what they were talking about. It was big-person stuff you guessed, and you didn't listen to big-person stuff. You didn't think the cold boy should be listening to big-person stuff either if it made him unhappy.

"Is there nothing we can do to help him then?" The cold boy asked in a very small voice.

"I didn't say that. I just… don't know is all. We've tried in the past without any success, but we can keep trying." The mama bird said. The cold boy heaved a massive sigh and you didn't like it at all. All the big-persons sighed like that, but the cold boy wasn't a big-person, even if the sigh made him sound like one. He was a not-so-child-sized-person, but he was also a _child_ and you knew your Papa would like him as long as he stayed that way. You patted the cold boy's arms with a chirp and he stopped squishing you. Whatever the cold boy was sighing about, you were sure your Papa would fix it.

"Right, I guess it's your turn to watch the little guy, Tooth. I'm going to go to Burgess and check out Pitch's lair again. Maybe we missed something there." The cold boy said, and you squeaked as you were pushed into the mama bird's arms. The mama bird squeaked too, and you think you might have fallen to the floor if you hadn't grabbed onto the mama bird's feathers first and—oh…

She was so soft…

"J-Jack! Wait a minute, how do I—" the mama bird stammered, and you chirped at the wave of anxiety she felt. You looked up from where you hung on her arm and purred. You liked rubbing your face in her feathers. She gave you a weird look and held her arm away from herself and you wondered if her belly was soft too, and if she knew who "mama goose" was because they were both bird mamas.

"No, don't do that." She said, trying to pull you off of her arm by the itchy ropes that you still couldn't get out of. You clung tighter with a loud whine. You didn't want to let go of her arm. It was so _soft_!

"It's okay to hold him. Give him a toy to play with, read him a book, just keep him occupied. Ask North if you need help, and _keep him away from the elves_. You don't even want to _know_ what they did to the kitchen." The cold boy said, and the mama bird relaxed a little. You didn't want the cold boy to leave, but he told you he would be right back and not to worry, so you flapped your hand at him as he was thrown out a window by the wind that liked to follow him (maybe the wind was attached to the cold boy like the cold boy was attached to the stick he always carried).

The mama bird sighed heavily and looked at you for a long time. You stared back.

You'd never met a mama before. You only had your Papa, and he was as good as a mama you thought, except you'd never had a mama either. You thought that maybe they were like papas, but a mama was a 'she' and a papa was a 'he'. Sometimes they were together, a mama and papa. Your Papa didn't have a mama to be with, but you didn't think the mama bird had a papa bird to be with.

The mama bird could be your Mama, you told her. The mama bird blinked at you and her face changed color.

"Wh—No! I'm not your mother!" The mama bird protested. But she was, you insisted, because she already was a mama so why couldn't she be _your_ mama? You didn't have a mama, but you wanted one, so she was your mama now, you decided. Why didn't she want to be your mama? Was it because you weren't a child? Your Papa used to argue that, but he didn't anymore. You hugged the mama bird's arm and you wailed when she tried to pull you off by the itchy ropes again, burying your face in her soft shiny feathers.

"Okay, okay, no screaming! You can stay there, but don't pull out any feathers, alright?" the mama bird told you and you nodded into her arm without lifting your head.

You wouldn't pull any of her feathers out, you swore. You could be good for your mama just like you were good for your Papa.

The mama bird didn't talk to you much after that, but you didn't mind because you were up really high! Higher than the big man! And there wasn't any wind to try to yank you away while she flew around the big man's place. You liked it when she flew, but you didn't think she was flying anywhere until she landed in the big man's library and started looking through the shelves. You squeaked at her curiously and reached out to touch one of the books but she gave you a pat on the head and told you to hush.

You peeked out from under her fingers at the book she selected and watched her haul it over to a nearby table. It wasn't at all like the book with your Papa in it. It was much, much bigger than the book with your Papa in it, and it smelled funny you thought, and there were _no shiny gold squiggles_.

Why did she want to read that book, you asked. Was she going to read it to you? Did it have stories? And pictures? The mama bird patted your head again and rested her arm on the table near the book so you could sit on it and then opened the book. You huffed because there were pictures, but they were boring pictures of squiggles and circles and other funny shapes. And a goat, you noticed. Was the goat part of the story?

"Shhh. I'm trying to find something." The mama bird said, and you stopped asking questions because maybe she was looking for your Papa. You weren't sure if he could hide in a book, but you knew your Papa was very flexible.

The mama bird's babies helped her look through the books (your Papa wasn't in any of them), but you stayed with the mama bird because even though she wasn't reading to you she was very soft, and you liked soft things, you decided. You would have liked it if she read to you though.

The mama closed the big book with a huff and pushed it away. "Keep looking girls, maybe there's something we missed the last time." she told her babies.

You sat up hopefully. Was she going to read you a story now? Or maybe that was something that only papas did. But the big man had read you stories. Did that make _him_ your papa?

That was ridiculous, you thought. You already had a papa. You couldn't have _two_ papas… could you?

Two papas were better than one papa, so you guessed it would be okay to have two papas. But you loved your Papa more than the big man because he was your first papa. Did that still make the big man your papa, you wondered. And if papas read you stories, what did mamas do? Could mamas read you stories too?

You had lots of questions, you realized, but the mama bird was looking at a different book now and she had told you to hush.

You stayed quiet, but you reached out to grab the special bag that the mama bird had brought with you, and you found the special book with your Papa in it. Your drawing of your Papa was still stuck between the pages and when you opened it you saw both your drawing and the picture of your Papa, and you chirped happily and touched the page. You heard a laugh and saw that the mama bird was looking over your shoulder.

"That's a cute drawing. Is it Pitch?" she asked with a smile and you nodded. He was your Papa, you told her, because sometimes the big-persons didn't understand that. The cold boy understood though.

The mama bird pursed her lips and she looked worried about something, you thought. "Did he tell you to call him that?" she asked softly. Sometimes your Papa told you _not_ to call him that, but that was when he went to the room you weren't supposed to go in, or when he was looking at the necklace that you weren't allowed to touch. You didn't understand why he didn't want to be called papa sometimes, but you didn't think he would ask you to call him papa either.

You shook your head and the mama bird sighed so hard that her feathers wilted.

"You poor thing." She said sadly, and you tilted your head in confusion. What did that mean? She didn't answer, but she petted your head really gently and you took the opportunity to cling to her arm again. She flinched, you noticed, but she let you hold on to her and you pointed to the special book with your Papa in it. Would she read to you, you asked hopefully.

"Read?" She repeated, and you nodded vigorously. "You want me to read that to you?"

Yes, yes, yes!

"Alright, alright." She said, pulling the book towards her. You climbed into her lap with a squeak and bounced in excitement. Mamas _did_ read you stories! You were glad they did, because that made them just as good as papas (you wondered if you could have _two_ mamas if you already had two papas).

"North started reading this to you, didn't he? He always dog-ears the pages." She grumbled, smoothing out the corner of one of the pages where it had been bent. Your Papa did that too. Was it bad? If it was, you promised never to do it ever and leaned against the mama bird's fluffy belly with a happy chirp as she opened the book and started to read.

The mama bird didn't do the funny voices like your Papa or the big man, but she had a very nice voice, you thought. And since you were in her lap you got to look at the pictures for as long as you wanted and it was really comfortable in her lap. You wondered if it was comfortable in your Papa's lap too, because you'd never been in his lap before. The other younger ones always got to it first and you had to sit on the floor. You did sit on your Papa's foot once though and that had been very nice.

While she read to you, the mama bird started petting your head and you purred because it was very, very nice. You even closed your eyes, it was so nice.

"You aren't falling asleep on me, are you?" the mama bird asked, and you shook your head. You didn't sleep. You think you might have gone to sleep once, but you might have just been blinking so you weren't sure. Did she want you to fall asleep? You supposed you could if you tried, so you curled up in the bend of her arm and tried to sleep.

You didn't get very far because the door opened with a bang and you nearly fell to the floor when the mama bird jumped into the air. You had grabbed onto her feathers (you might have pulled out one or two but it was an accident) and you clung to her stomach with a whine.

"Jack has found a lead on Pitch!" The big man boomed.

You didn't want to sleep anyway.


	8. Leaves and Sad Trees

You were very excited.

You grabbed the special bag and held on really tight to the mama bird as she flew from the big man's library to the room with the giant round ball thing with the glowing lights all over it. You hadn't been in this room for a while, and you squeaked because all of the big-persons were there! You saw the bunny, and the little glowing man, and the big man. The cold boy was there too, and you waved because you were very happy to see him again.

"Jack! North said you found Pitch?" The mama bird exclaimed, and you squealed. Your Papa? Where was he? You looked around but you couldn't see him anywhere.

"I found a _lead_ on Pitch." The cold boy corrected. You didn't know what that meant, but you were busy climbing onto the mama bird's head because maybe you weren't up high enough to see your Papa. She pulled you back down so you guessed her shoulder was high enough and sat there instead.

"I've been telling the leaves to keep an eye out for Pitch ever since he went missing. While I was heading to Burgess to check on Pitch's lair, one of the leaves told me they saw him. They said he's been wandering the woods in the area for hours. If we're quick we might be able to catch him before he slips away." The cold boy said.

"Excellent work, Jack! Phil! Ready the sleigh!" The big man boomed, clapping the cold boy on the back so hard you thought the cold boy would break into little pieces (you were very glad that he didn't).

"He didn't go very far from his lair, huh?" The bunny remarked with a frown. The bunny sure did like frowning. "What's he doin' hanging around Burgess? Think he might go after the kids?" the bunny was worried, and you didn't like the way he clenched his paws, but where was your Papa?

"I've got the Nods looking after them. If anything happens, I'll know about it." The cold boy said.

You tugged on the mama bird's feathers with a whine, trying to get her attention. Where was your Papa? Why wouldn't the mama bird tell you what was going on? The cold boy laughed.

"Awww, he thinks you're his mama! When did that happen?" the cold boy snickered, and the mama bird's face changed color. You thought one of your crayons might have been that color. That was funny because your Papa's face never changed colors like the mama bird's face did. He was very _un_ colorful.

"It's not my fault! It won't stop calling me that!" The mama bird protested as she flew. You nodded in agreement.

The mama bird was your mama, you told the cold boy seriously. It was no laughing matter.

Being a mama was a very important thing, your Papa had said once. Your Papa had told you that mamas were _magic_ and that they could do things that papas couldn't. _Magical things_. You didn't know _what_ things exactly, only that it was magical and that it involved children. It seemed important.

"I think it's cute." The cold boy told her. You didn't think the mama bird's face could change color even more than it already had, but it did. Maybe she was sick? Your Papa got sick sometimes, but his face didn't change color. She felt very warm.

"I think I'll meet you guys there. Tunnels, yah know?" The bunny said, and he was very nervous. The big man caught the bunny by the scruff and you laughed because the bunny looked very small next to the big man.

"Come Bunny! Be brave in front of fearling!" The big man chided, and the bunny glanced at you quickly so you waved at him. The bunny was still very nervous but— _what_ was _that_?!

You squealed, pointing wildly because there were big furry things that were bigger than the Phils. They reminded you of the youngest ones, except they weren't made of sand and they had tree branches sticking out of their heads! What were they, you wanted to know, and the big man chuckled with a smile under his beard.

"The little one likes reindeer! Wait until it sees the sleigh!" he laughed.

The "sleigh" was even bigger than the reindeer, and it had benches for you to sit on but they weren't as comfy as the mama bird so you stayed with her and sat on her lap.

The bunny was very, very anxious when he climbed into the sleigh and sat down on the other side of the bench. You didn't know why though, because it looked very nice and had shiny gold squiggles on the red parts.

You were beginning to wonder why the reindeer were in front of the sleigh when they started to run away. It was okay though because they were wearing itchy ropey things like you were that tied them to the sleigh so—why was the sleigh moving?

The bunny was scared and now you knew why. You screeched and grabbed onto the mama bird's arm and hung on really tight because it was so _fast_. You remembered moving this fast once, but it had been with your Papa and you didn't like going this fast when your Papa wasn't with you. The cold boy was having fun though, and the big man didn't seem very worried, so you thought that maybe it would be okay to not hold the mama bird so tight.

The big man threw something ahead of the reindeer and it exploded with so many colors that spun and swirled and made you feel very dizzy.

When the colors stopped spinning you sat up to look over the side of the sleigh and saw snow and trees below it. The sleigh was up very high, and the wind was blowing very fast and there was snow _everywhere_. The snow made your face sting because the wind was throwing it so hard and the mama bird's feathers weren't so soft covered in ice.

"Oi, Frostbite! What gives?!" The bunny shouted. The bunny looked white instead of gray because of all the frost that was sticking to him. You thought his whiskers looked very funny that way.

"It's not my blizzard!" The cold boy replied defensively with a frown. You believed the cold boy. _This_ wind wasn't like the cold boy's wind at all. _This_ wind was big and fast and strong and it didn't like any of them, but it _especially_ didn't like you and you crawled as quickly as you could off of the mama bird's lap and into the cold boy's hoodie when the wind tried to grab you.

It wanted to throw you, and you were very easy to throw so you stayed close to the cold boy and held on tight. You were glad that the Moon was hidden behind clouds.

"Jack, where did you say Pitch was?" The big man asked as the mama bird passed the cold boy the ropey thing. You could barely hear the big man because the wind was so noisy.

"I dunno. Lemme check with the leaves." The cold boy said, and he leapt over the side of the sleigh.

The mean wind didn't throw the cold boy too hard, but you thought the wind could have been nicer when the cold boy crashed into a tree. Why did the cold boy want to talk to leaves? Could leaves talk back, you chirped up at him quietly and he patted your head as he held out his other hand towards the leaves.

The leaves were happy to see the cold boy. There weren't very many of them, and you could see the wind carrying them away one by one every once in a while.

The leaves were confused to see you there, peering out at them from the cold boy's hoodie, and they were worried because why did the cold boy have a shadow in his hoodie? That wasn't good, they said, and the cold boy should get away from it as fast as he could.

You didn't know leaves could talk.

The leaves tittered as one. Of course they could talk, they said. Silly shadow!

Stop laughing, you demanded. You weren't a silly shadow, they were silly leaves! You reached out to grab one, because they were very small, but the cold boy caught your wrists and said no.

"It's okay guys, it's not going to hurt me. Now tell me, where did you see Pitch?"

The leaves had seen your Papa? Where was he? You wiggled your head out of the cold boy's hoodie and stretched for the leaves again. Where was your Papa?!

No, the leaves exclaimed. That bad man was no one's papa, they told you. He was _bad_.

But he _was_ someone's papa, you protested. He was _your_ Papa. And he wasn't bad!

Yes he was, the leaves argued. He was a bad, bad man who stole children, they said.

Your Papa wasn't bad! Your Papa took good care of you and he was a good papa! You grabbed the branch and shook it hard until the cold boy pulled you away.

Naughty shadow, the leaves shouted all at once. Naughty, naughty shadow that doesn't know how to behave!

"Hey! If you don't be good I'll put you in time out." The cold boy said sternly, and you reluctantly tucked your arms back into his hoodie with a growl. You didn't like those stupid leaves anyway. They were mean. What was a time out though, you wondered.

"Where'd you see Pitch guys?" The cold boy asked again. The leaves said your Papa had been near a sad oak tree. You knew what an oak tree was. You didn't know if you'd ever seen a sad one before though. That didn't matter though because now you knew where your Papa was and you were going to find him!

"Hold still little guy." The cold boy said, squeezing you with his arms as you wriggled and squirmed. You would not hold still! Your Papa needed you!

The mean wind was much faster than the cold boy's wind, and it hurled him at the sleigh with the big persons in it very hard. The cold boy almost hit the reindeer, but he climbed inside and sat back down.

"They say Pitch was near the Oak of Sorrows." The cold boy shouted to the big-persons.

"That is not far. There is clearing up ahead that is good for landing!" The big man shouted back, pointing at something that you couldn't see.

You huddled deeper into the cold boy's hoodie with a whine as the wind grew stronger. You didn't know how the sleigh kept flying, but maybe the reindeer must have been stronger than the wind they flew against. You didn't think so though. You thought the wind was just letting them fly.

It was less windy on the ground, but you could hear the mean wind pulling at the trees and you hoped that the trees would be okay. The bunny was very happy to see the ground.

"This is the place. He should be here." The cold boy announced as you squirmed in his hoodie and tried to peek out under his chin. "You ready to see your papa?" he asked you quietly.

You nodded excitedly. You were very ready to see your Papa.

The sad oak tree was very big, but you didn't think it looked very sad. The cold boy was happy to see the tree, and the tree was happy to see the cold boy. But the cold boy couldn't stay for very long, because he was looking for your Papa. Your Papa was supposed to be there, so where was he?

"Pitch!" the bunny barked suddenly, sprinting into the snow.

The bunny was _fast_ , and the cold boy couldn't keep up without the wind, but the cold boy didn't like the mean wind carrying him you guessed. The mean wind liked to throw things.

Your Papa was just a dark shape in the trees, but you knew your Papa's shape better than you knew any other shape, and the bunny was quickly gaining on him. Why was your Papa running away from you?

You wiggled out of the cold boy's hoodie with a squeal and followed the bunny through the snow. The cold boy shouted in surprise as you scrambled over tree roots and snow banks but you kept running because _your Papa was up ahead_.

Your Papa was running very fast but the bunny was faster, and your Papa was _afraid_ which was bad because your Papa was never afraid. Not like that.

The cold boy was right on your tail, chasing the rope that you trailed with the big persons following close behind.

Why did the air feel so weird…?

It felt… tingly…

And then the world exploded.

It was the loudest, brightest thing you'd ever seen. Louder than the big man, and brighter than the Moon and that meant it _hurt_. The wind howled suddenly and you almost thought it would carry you off, but instead of picking you up and throwing you, the mean wind just flew over your head and covered you in snow.

You couldn't see, but you heard the big man shout your Papa's name and felt the snow near you shift.

"Little guy!" The cold boy scooped you into his arms and you chirped gratefully because the light had been _hot_ and the cold boy was nice and cold. He petted you gently and you opened your eyes a little wider.

Why was everything so blurry? You wanted to see your Papa, you wailed!

There was a big blue blur that sounded like the cold boy, and a big red blur that sounded like the big man. You thought that the grayish white thing might have been the bunny, and the gold blur was the little glowing man. You couldn't find the mama bird, but you thought you saw something green for a split second. It had been a lot bigger than the mama bird though… You couldn't see any tall black blurs that you were sure would have been your Papa.

"That crazy sheila nearly fried me alive!" the bunny was saying. He smelled awful, like smoke and burning things.

"What was she doing here? Where's Pitch?" The mama bird demanded, darting around as the mean wind shoved her back and forth.

"Gone." The bunny spat.

Your Papa was… gone? No! Where was your Papa, you demanded, grabbing at the cold boy's hoodie. The cold boy shushed you quietly, bouncing you up and down.

"Your Papa left. Don't worry, we'll find him again." The cold boy promised you.

But he had been so close! You _saw_ him! You squirmed in the cold boy's arms and tried to break free. One of the trees was split down the middle and you were very sure it hadn't been like that before, but that didn't matter because your Papa was _here_ and you would _find_ him.

You hissed and shrieked because you knew if your Papa were near he would hear you and come back. You _knew_ he would.

But he didn't come back.

The mean wind did.

The cold boy scampered back to the big persons and held you close as the mean wind rushed as far into the trees as it could without pulling them out of the ground. You curled your fingers into the cold boy's hoodie with a whimper.

The wind was carrying something, and you squinted against the snow at the big green lady that the wind lowered to the ground (it didn't throw her at all, and it didn't want to throw her either).

The lady was very tall, maybe as tall as your Papa you thought, and she had _lots_ of hair… She must have really liked the color green too, because her entire dress was green.

"Mother Nature…" the big man breathed. You perked up curiously.

The tall lady was a mama? You didn't see any babies, but that didn't mean she wasn't a mama.

"Guardians." The tall lady said. She didn't look happy. You saw her look at you and you didn't like that look, you decided. That look was _scary_ …

"You-" the bunny started, only to be cut short by the big man who stepped forward with a serious expression on his face.

"You helped Pitch escape. Why?" The big man asked.

"Yeah, what happened to neutrality?" the bunny added gruffly. He must have been grumpy about his whiskers being singed off. You would have been grumpy too. You liked his whiskers. His fur was so fluffy now though.

"I don't need to explain myself to you." The tall lady replied coolly, lifting her chin. "I will only say this once, so listen well. Let Pitch Black be."

"You nearly cooked us with lightning just to tell us to back off?" the bunny snapped indignantly. "We're just doin' our job!"

"And I am doing mine. Don't try to force the issue, Bunnymund." the tall lady said.

"But the children-" the mama bird began.

"Your charges will be fine." The tall lady interrupted sharply. "Pitch Black is too weak to pose any threat. This is your first and only warning. Should you pursue him again, I won't be so merciful." This was a serious big-person talk, you figured, because you couldn't understand half of what the big-persons were saying.

"We have no intention of fighting you. If you are certain that the children will be safe, we will withdraw. However, we have something of Pitch's that we promised to return." The big man said. The tall lady's eyes flicked towards you and you shrank back into the cold boy's arms.

… She glared just like your Papa did…

"I noticed. That is the second reason why I'm here."

"Good. Will you take it to him then?" The big man asked. You wondered what they wanted to return to your Papa. Maybe it was the special bag. In that case you would keep a tight grip on the special bag.

"No. That _thing_ is an abomination and it needs to be destroyed. I came here to do just that." The tall lady said harshly. The air was feeling tingly again, you noticed.

The cold boy squeezed you in his arms, making you wheeze as you were stuffed into his hoodie. The cold boy was _scared_.

"What? No way! We're not killing it!" he protested angrily as you wiggled your head out of the hoodie with a chirp.

"There isn't a life in it to take, and if there is killing it now would only be a mercy. Now hand it over." The tall lady told him firmly, holding out her hand. Did she want the cold boy to give her something? The cold boy squeezed you tighter, shaking his head.

"No, you can't. I won't let you."

"Jack-"

"No! It hasn't done anything wrong." The cold boy turned to the other big persons as the wind—the wind that didn't like to throw things so much—swirled around him. "We can't kill it." He told them. "Please, guys?"

The big man was watching you with a sad look on his face, and you didn't like that look. "I do not wish to see the little one destroyed. It has not done any harm. It wants to be with Pitch and nothing more… But Mother Nature has point... We do not know for sure that it is safe." He said slowly, and you thought his sad look got a little sadder afterwards. The cold boy didn't like that answer.

"Bunny?" The cold boy asked.

The bunny wasn't looking at you. There must have been something very special about the snow he was standing in though. Eventually he sighed, his long ears drooping. "I dunno mate. I don't want 'im killed, but fearlings ain't safe."

"We don't know that for sure! This one could be different!" The cold boy exclaimed.

"We don't know a lot of things about fearlings, Jack. Fearlings are experts at mimicry. We have know way of knowing how much of the fearling's behavior is genuine or how much of it is just an act. We just don't know." The mama bird insisted sympathetically. The cold boy didn't want to hear that and turned to the last big-person (who wasn't very big, but he was still a big-person).

"Sandy?"

The little glowing man floated forward and shiny shapes appeared over his head. You didn't know what the shapes were, but you thought you saw your Papa's shape once or twice.

The tall lady closed her eyes for a while and sighed. The sigh made the trees moan and the wind howl.

"... If that is truly how you feel, I won't destroy it—for now—but ultimately the decision is up to Pitch." She said at last, and you huffed as the cold boy's grip finally loosened.

"So you will bring it to him then?" the big man asked hopefully.

"For Sandy, yes, I will. Though I cannot see why you'd ever want it to live, all things considered." The tall lady replied reluctantly, narrowing her eyes at the little glowing man who shrugged helplessly.

"I'm coming too." The cold boy announced, ignoring the protests of the big-persons. "I want to make sure the little guy gets returned safely." The cold boy didn't even flinch at the tall lady's glare and you thought that was very impressive.

"Very well." The tall lady allowed.

You huffed again and wondered when you were going to see your Papa again. You hoped it would be soon.


	9. Abandoned

**Author's Note:** At last, the long awaited chapter nine! Sorry this took me so long, the summer heat evaporated my will to live, but I'm pleased to announce that the next chapter will be posted next week because I got really productive all of a sudden.

* * *

The cold boy held you tight under his hoodie and he told you to say goodbye to the big-persons.

Where were they going? Back to the big man's place? Could you come too?

No, you couldn't come. You were going to be with your Papa. But you could come later, right? And you could bring your Papa too, right?

"Be good, little one." the big man said, petting your head. "You can keep book, I have many more. Maybe your papa will read it for you, yes?" he added in a very soft voice as he passed the cold boy the special bag, winking at you with a small smile. That was very nice of him, you thought, because it was a very special book, and you promised that you would take good care of it. You were sure your Papa would too.

"Don't get into any trouble, mate." the bunny told you, poking your belly with his furry hand. "You stay out of trouble, you hear me?" he added, and you nodded quickly because it must have been very important if he needed to tell you twice.

"Good luck finding Pitch." The mama bird wished you. You wanted her to come with you. Mamas and papas usually stayed together, and your Papa didn't have a mama to be with. She smiled at you and shook her head, but she told you she would never forget about you. That was good, you guessed, but you weren't sure why. You wouldn't forget her either.

Now all you had to do was say goodbye to the little glowing man, and the cold boy crouched so you could see him.

 _"It was fun playing hide-and-seek-with you."_ The voice said, and you chirped in agreement. _"I hope we can play again someday."_ It added, and the little glowing man's smile turned a bit sad. You hoped so too because it was fun being the hider instead of the seeker, and you liked playing with the voice and the little glowing man, even if you had to count to ten when you did.

The big-persons told the cold boy to be careful. They said to be safe, and to keep you safe too.

"Come along, Jack, before I change my mind about sparing the fearling." The tall lady said.

The cold boy was nervous as he walked up to the tall lady, but he held you tight and allowed the mean wind to lift him into the air. After that the cold boy shoved you deeper into his hoodie and kept you there for a long time. You were glad he did because the mean wind was loud and you didn't like how tingly the air felt either.

"Why are we leaving Burgess? Isn't Pitch back there?" the cold boy asked. You peeked out of his hoodie curiously, squinting against the icy wind.

"No." the tall lady said. "I sent him somewhere safe."

"Why was Pitch there in the first place if Burgess isn't safe for him?" the cold boy wanted to know.

"That is none of your concern. It wasn't to harm your believers, I can assure you." The tall lady snipped back as the mean wind pushed her farther ahead.

"Okay, so how come you're helping Pitch?" the cold boy demanded, trying to keep up.

"I am helping him because he asked." The tall lady answered. Her hair was very pretty, you thought. It reminded you of clouds, except you don't think you'd ever seen clouds as dark as her hair.

"Why did he—"

"Stop asking questions, Jack." The tall lady ordered.

For a mama, the tall lady didn't seem very nice.

Mamas were supposed to be nice like papas, you thought, and the mama bird was nice, so how come the tall lady was a mama if she wasn't nice? And where were her babies? Mamas were supposed to have those too, right?

Your Papa was a papa even though he didn't have babies, so you guessed maybe babies didn't make a person a mama or a papa. Papas couldn't make babies because they weren't magic like mamas were. But what did make a person a mama or papa, you wondered.

That was a hard question, and you didn't want to think about it but you had lots and lots of time to think about it because the cold boy flew with the tall lady for a long time.

You still couldn't answer your question when the cold boy finally landed.

You wiggled your head out of the cold boy's hoodie with a squeak and squinted around at all the _green_. You'd never seen so much green before! There were other colors too. Lots more than your crayons, which of course meant that you needed more crayons. You would ask the big man for more when you saw him again. It smelled like the bath you took at the big man's place.

"You took him here? _I'm_ not even allowed here." the cold boy said in surprise.

"Like I said, I sent him somewhere safe. It isn't a place I'd take just anybody to." You didn't see the tall lady with all the green she wore, so you were very surprised when you realized she had been standing in front of you the entire time. "Come this way." She added, leading the cold boy through the trees.

You liked trees with the spiky leaves. You especially liked the ones that had the shiny ball things on them like at the big man's place. You didn't see any trees like those though, but you saw lots of other trees, and plants with leaves that were as big as you were. There were also flowers that were bigger than your head and flowers that were smaller than the sparkly button you found. You liked the big flowers best because their petals looked soft, but the tall lady said not to touch so you didn't.

"Here we are." She announced. In front of her was a small cave. You almost didn't see it because the plants liked it so much that they were climbing all over it.

"Pitch is in there then?" the cold boy asked wearily.

"Yes. I will bring the fearling to him. He might not… _tolerate_ your presence." The tall lady said, holding out her hand once again.

"You're not just going to kill it as soon as my back is turned, are you?" the cold boy demanded, squishing you tightly.

"No. I will keep my word and deliver the fearling. _Alive_." The tall lady scowled at you meanly and you pulled the cold boy's hoodie up over your face with a whimper. She didn't like you for some reason, but you weren't sure why because you were being good!

"Don't hurt it either." The cold boy said. The tall lady sighed through her nose and narrowed her eyes.

"I won't hurt it either." She agreed.

"Promise?" the cold boy pressed, making the tall lady glower.

"I promise." She swore, frowning when the cold boy kept holding you tight. "I promise on my soul that I will not hurt the fearling in any way shape or form for as long as it remains in this cave, alright?"

The cold boy frowned a bit, returning her glare with a not-so-scary glare of his own, but he nodded finally. "Alright." He said, putting the special bag into her outstretched hand. "These are the little guy's things, don't loose them." He explained, starting to pull you out of his hoodie. You shrieked unhappily and dug your claws into the fabric.

No, no, no! You didn't want to leave the hoodie! It was safe in the hoodie, and the tall lady was mean and scary, you shouted as the cold boy pried your fingers off of the fabric.

"It's okay! She's going to take you to your papa." The cold boy told you. The tall lady huffed at the cold boy's words but he didn't seem to notice.

He was supposed to come with you, you whined. Because _family_! Your Papa would like the cold boy! You had to bring him to your Papa!

"I can't come with you." The cold boy said, holding your hands together. "You want to be with your papa, don't you?"

You nodded because you very much _did_ want to be with your Papa.

"Then you have to be good and let Mother Nature bring you to him, okay?"

You looked at the tall lady with a whine. The big man had told you to be good, and the bunny had told you _twice_ to stay out of trouble, but you _really_ didn't want to go with the tall lady. _But your Papa!_

Your Papa needed you. He was probably all alone in the cave, and you _had_ to find your Papa.

"So you'll go with her then?" the cold boy asked. You guessed so, even though you didn't want to. "I hope I'll see you again someday." He told you, holding you close. You held him back and gave him a squeeze. You were sorry to leave the cold boy alone, but maybe the other big-persons would take care of him until you brought him to your Papa. They were nice. They wouldn't leave the cold boy alone.

The cold boy told you goodbye as he passed the rope to the tall lady and set you down near her feet. You flapped your hand at him with a chirp. Why did he look so sad? He wasn't supposed to look sad. Don't be sad, you told him firmly, because the cold boy was never supposed to be sad. He was bright and happy and cold. Not sad. The cold boy smiled a very small smile and the tall lady tugged you away with the rope.

You said you would be good, so you followed her into the cave. You just wished she didn't walk so fast. It was a good thing she had a long dress that you could grab, you thought as you caught hold of the skirt and pulled yourself up.

The tall lady stopped when she felt you on her skirt and she snarled at you angrily as she pulled you off with the rope. "Don't touch me." She growled making you shrink back. That wasn't a person sound. That was a beastie sound.

She didn't say anything else but she was mad at you now so you scrambled along behind her in the dark cave and didn't try to grab her skirt again.

You didn't mean to make the tall lady mad. You were good. You were sorry, you wanted her to know.

She didn't answer.

Maybe she was ignoring you. Your Papa did that sometimes when he was busy.

Green was a pretty color, you told her.

Did she like green, you asked. You liked green. You had a crayon that was green. You liked gold the best though, but you didn't have a gold crayon. Did she like green the best? She must have because her whole dress was green. It was a pretty dress, you told her. You'd never worn a dress before. You'd never worn _clothes_ before. Well, you'd worn the clothes that the little things in red wore, but you hadn't worn it for very long so you didn't think that counted.

"I don't have a lot of patience and I can't understand half of what you are saying so please, stop talking." The tall lady told you.

She really didn't like questions, you grumbled as she started walking again, but at least she wasn't walking so fast anymore. You missed the big man. He _loved_ questions.

The cave wasn't nearly as big as your Papa's place, you learned. It wasn't as nice as your Papa's place either. It was wet and slippery and small and you weren't sure why your Papa would ever want to be there.

The tall lady stopped walking again and you bumped into her skirt.

"Pitch." She called. You heard something move and you squeaked, trying to look past her dress. "I've brought you something."

"I don't want it."

You knew that voice. It was rough and scratchy, but you knew that voice! You squealed in excitement and started to scramble over the tall lady's skirt.

"You don't have a choice in this matter." The tall lady asserted.

Your Papa was on the floor with his arms and legs all folded up, looking up at the tall lady with wide eyes. Why was he on the floor? Your Papa's eyes fell on you and you squeaked, swelling happily. He sat up and moved back against the wall when the tall lady approached. "Please, keep it away." He said.

Your Papa should be happy to see you. Why wasn't your Papa happy to see you? Did you do something wrong?

"You told me you had destroyed all of the fearlings." The tall lady said coldly, holding you back with the rope as you strained to reach your Papa. If only your arms were longer!

"I didn't lie." he began quickly, looking up at the tall lady. His voice sounded dry. Maybe he was thirsty.

"I believed you when you told me they were gone, and they weren't. What if this fearling had gotten loose? What if it had found a child?" The tall lady reproached, making your Papa turn white. You hadn't thought he could change colors.

"I thought they were… I locked them away centuries ago. There shouldn't have been any left by now…" he insisted helplessly.

"Evidently not." The tall lady replied snappishly. Your Papa flinched.

"Please tell me it didn't-"

"It's been with the Guardians for the last week. They found it while they were looking for you." The tall lady interrupted. "You're lucky they did." She added harshly. Your Papa slumped against the wall and put his head in his hands.

"How many were left?" he wanted to know.

"Just this one. And I've made sure of that, no thanks to you." Your Papa didn't move, but you thought that he might have made a noise at the way the tall lady spoke to him. The tall lady didn't sound very nice. They were having a big-person talk, but you didn't know what it was about. You didn't like big-person talks, you decided.

"The fearling is your responsibility. I trust you'll do what needs to be done." The tall lady told him, dropping the special bag on top of you and releasing the rope. You wriggled out from under the special bag with an indignant squeal. That hadn't been very nice, you thought.

"Don't leave it here with me!" Your Papa begged suddenly when it seemed that the tall lady was going to go away. Your Papa was scared. First he was scared of the tall lady. Now he was scared of you. But your Papa was the bravest man in the whole world, you thought! He shouldn't be scared!

"It's _your_ responsibility!" the tall lady repeated, towering over your Papa. You didn't think _anyone_ could tower over your Papa like she did, and your Papa trembled in front of her. "I did what I did for you out of _pity_! But I will _not_ clean up your mess! I've done enough! Kill it or don't kill it, I don't care." Your Papa flinched at the way the tall lady spoke. She scowled down at him and scoffed, spinning around to stalk away.

Your Papa raised his head and watched her go. He looked like he wanted to tell her something, but he didn't say anything so maybe it wasn't important.

Oh! You remembered you had the special bag to give to your Papa! You chirped loudly as you pointed to the special bag. You had something you knew your Papa would love!

Look, look, look, you said excitedly. Look at the tiny child you'd found for him! You waved the tiny child over your head as you crawled over to him. You put the tiny child on the ground in front of him proudly before scurrying back into the special bag.

Also, also, look at what _else_ you found for him!

You showed him the sparkly button with a coo because it was very pretty, even if it wasn't gold. Then you piled the shiny bits of the ball from one of the big man's trees that you had accidentally broken so he could see them, and you rolled the noisy silver bell across the ground because even though it made noise it was still pretty and the noise it made wasn't as bad as most noises, you thought.

You showed him your crayons, and the drawings you made of the older ones, and the numbers that the little glowing man had written so you could count to ten during hide-and-seek! And you gave him the shiny gold egg you had painted with the bunny. Your Papa didn't take the egg, but that was okay because maybe he was just worried that it would break because eggs were so, _so_ fragile.

Oh, oh, oh! You almost forgot!

You hurried back to the special bag and pulled out the special book. The big man said you could keep the book, you explained, and it was a very special book!

Did he like the things, you asked.

Oh… He wasn't looking. Why wasn't he looking?

You pushed the book into his lap again and sat down with a squeal as he turned it over in his hands, narrowing his eyes at the cover.

Did your Papa like the book? Would he read it to you?

"Where did you get this?" he wanted to know as he opened the special book slowly. Something slipped from between the pages and you sat up with a chirp. Your drawing! Your Papa looked at it for a long time before he turned his attention to the special book. You watched his eyes flick across the pages, growing wider and wider.

"This book is…" he breathed, his voice trailing off. Why were his eyes so wet? Did he get sand in them? You didn't see any sand in the cave. You jumped when your Papa threw the book with a shout and watched it hit the wall and tumble to the ground. Your drawing fell out on the way down.

"Pathetic!" he spat, and you stopped on your way to retrieve the book to look at him. "I didn't ask for any of this!" He was saying, and he sounded broken when he spoke. "None of this would have happened if I hadn't… If I'd just… I could have…" he never finished what he'd wanted to say because his voice was shaking too hard.

He was talking to himself, you figured, because he didn't make sense when he did that sometimes. His eyes didn't look at things properly when he talked to himself. He could stare right at you without knowing you were there. It was funny, you used to think, but he wasn't being funny now.

Something was very wrong. Your Papa was hurting, and you didn't know why but you thought maybe it had something to do with you. Maybe it was your fault. But what did you do? You tried to remember, but you couldn't.

"She thinks I should kill you—I _should_ kill you. It's my responsibility." Your Papa said.

Why was he saying that? Did you do something wrong? You tried to crawl up to him but he pushed you away.

You looked up at him in confusion. He must have been cold because he was shaking an awful lot.

You didn't understand. What did you do wrong?

You thought for sure he would fall over as he pushed himself to his feet. You didn't notice it before, but his robe was different. It was too short for you to sit on while he walked, and the collar was too high. And his robe didn't have those buttons on it either.

"I'm sorry," your Papa said, and you were trying to figure out why he was sorry when you felt the pain.

You ran.

You didn't know what else to do. You were scared of your Papa. Your Papa never tried to hurt you before. Not like this.

So you ran. You ran from the cave as fast as you could, but your Papa didn't follow you.

Your Papa was nice, you thought. Sometimes he was mean, but he didn't like you around when he was mean. That's why he went into that room that you weren't supposed to go in. But he took care of you. He chased away the moonbeams when they wrestled too roughly and he let you hide in his shadow when the Moon was out. He told you stories and played games and sang songs and laughed when one of you was being silly. Those mean leaves were wrong. Your Papa wasn't bad. He was _good_.

Your belly hurt while you crawled back to the front of the cave. It hurt lots and lots. Maybe you had a tummy ache, you thought, like the time when you drank the tasty stuff that the little glowing man had been drinking. But this wasn't the same as a tummy ache, you thought. This felt different. This hurt more.

You sniffled as you slunk to the entrance of the cave. It was bright outside, and you didn't want to go outside. You wanted to go back to your Papa's place, or the big man's place. You wanted to go home.

"You're still alive?" The tall lady sounded surprised. When did she get there, you wondered. The plants must have really liked her pretty dress because they were climbing all over it. How come the plants where allowed to cling to her skirt when you weren't? She crossed her arms and glared at you as the sky rumbled.

"It's cruel to keep you like this." The tall lady narrowed her eyes at you as you whined at the rumbling sky.

Would the tall lady take you back to your Papa's place, you asked. You were lost. You wanted to go home. Would she take you there?

"No." The tall lady said.

Oh…

What were you going to do now? You didn't know where you were, or how to go home, the tall lady wouldn't help you, and your Papa… Your Papa…

The tall lady scoffed, and you jumped when the sky exploded with a bright flash and a boom that made the trees shake. "If this comes back to bite him, then so be it," The tall lady hissed as the mean wind swept her into the air. She wasn't a very nice mama, you thought, but maybe she was nice to her babies. You hoped so.

You would wait right there for your Papa, you decided. You would sit there and wait for him, like you waited for the cold boy, so you set to work scratching your spot on the ground so you wouldn't forget where it was.

You wouldn't leave. Your Papa would come to find you soon so you had to stay right there. He would definitely come, because now he knew where you were. You were going to sit right there on your marked spot and wait for your Papa.

You could wait. And wait you did.

For a very…

Long…

Time…


	10. At Last

You waited for your Papa for a long time. You didn't know how long you waited, but no matter what you stayed in your spot.

The tall lady liked to stand outside the cave sometimes, but she never went in, no matter how scary it was outside. Sometimes she looked at you, but most of the time she just looked at the sky.

Animals were scared of the tall lady, and you thought that was funny because animals were scared of your Papa too, but they were scared of him for a different reason. Bugs liked the tall lady though, and butterflies liked her the best. You'd never seen a butterfly before, but you'd seen moths sometimes. Butterflies didn't like the dark, you guessed.

The butterflies liked to play in the tall lady's hair and crawl on her body when it wasn't too wet, or cold, or windy, or dark. You wished _you_ could play in her hair, but it was too bright outside the cave and you weren't supposed to leave your spot for _anything_. One time, one of the butterflies landed near you! It didn't stay long, but you definitely could have caught it if you had left your spot.

When it was windy, the tall lady let the leaves play in her hair. You were glad to be in the cave when it was windy because you knew you would be blown away for sure if you left and that wouldn't have been good at all because you wouldn't be in your spot anymore.

The first time it started snowing you thought maybe the cold boy had come back, but it was just the tall lady. She would sit on the ground and let the snow fall on her while she watched the sky until her skin turned purple.

It rained sometimes too, and you didn't like it when it did because then water would collect in your spot and make you all wet and drippy. You didn't like being wet and drippy, but you stayed in your spot.

The tall lady didn't mind getting wet. She would sit in the rain until all of her hair turned flat and her dress was soppy, but she didn't mind it at all. She liked to squish the mud between her toes when it rained, and she never wore shoes. The cold boy didn't wear shoes either, and neither did the mama bird. You wondered what happened to all of their shoes, and if they would find them again one day.

The tall lady spoke to you once. She wanted to know why you were still in the cave, and why you hadn't left.

You were waiting for your Papa, you'd told her, and she had frowned at you.

Your Papa wouldn't come get you, she'd said, but that was because she didn't know your Papa. He always came back.

You didn't see the tall lady outside of the cave for a long time after that, but it was fine because you were much too tired to talk to her anyway.

You were so, so tired, and you felt very dizzy. Your eyes were sore from looking outside the cave and you just wanted to _sleep_ because you were so tired, but you couldn't sleep. Not yet. Not until you found your Papa. He would definitely come back. Definitely.

It was snowing when the cold boy came.

He nearly stepped over you at first, but then he saw the stupid ropey thing. You didn't even know he was there until you heard him gasp. He picked you up and you let out a squeal because you weren't supposed to leave your spot for anything, but you must have been too quiet because the cold boy didn't hear it. You wondered why he'd gotten so big because surely you hadn't been able to fit in his hands so easily before. The ropes fell right off when he lifted you, and he cradled you close to his chest.

You had to wait for your Papa, you tried to explain, but the only noises you made were whimpers. The cold boy ignored you. You couldn't see his face, but he felt very cold right then, and he wasn't so bright either. Where was he taking you? Into the cave? No! That was where your Papa was, and your Papa hadn't come to get you yet! You had to wait outside!

"Pitch!" the cold boy shouted, and you flinched because the cold boy was _angry_. "Pitch, if you don't come out right now I'm going to get Mother Nature, and trust me you won't like it when I get Mother Nature."

"Go away." Your Papa said, emerging from a dark corner reluctantly. He didn't sound angry with you anymore. He sounded tired.

"Not until you explain." The cold boy told him.

"Explain what, exactly?"

" _This_! Explain _this_!" the cold boy thrust you forward and you lifted your head with a wobbly cry at the sudden jostling. You hoped he wouldn't drop you, because you were awfully far from the ground. The cold boy must have been very mad, because he didn't even let your Papa respond before he started talking again. "Is this how you treat your minions? I found it outside in the snow, waiting for you, I'd bet, and here you are acting like you don't even care."

"I _don't_ care, and it's not my minion. The fearlings never were." Your Papa corrected him disinterestedly. "Now if that's all you came here to say, leave. And take that… _thing_ with you."

"So you're just going to abandon it then? It'll die! It needs you!" The cold boy protested.

"It died the day it changed. It needs fear. And once it finds some, it will latch on and feed until nothing remains. It doesn't care about anything else." Your Papa scoffed dismissively.

"Then you're just killing it twice. If it wanted fear, why didn't it go find some? Why did it stay? It stayed because it trusted you to take care of it, and you betrayed it." The cold boy accused viciously.

"And it told you all of this itself, didn't it? Fearlings lie, Jack." Your Papa said, pacing back and forth restlessly.

"How can it lie? It can barely speak!" the cold boy argued furiously, still holding you out to your Papa.

"It's what they _do._ They find every ounce of goodness in you and they use it to destroy you. I've seen it happen too many times to count!" Your Papa was much taller than the cold boy when he loomed, but the cold boy didn't move. The cold boy was very brave.

"If you would just spend time with it you'd see it's not like that! It's practically a child—"

"No it is _not_!" your Papa snapped. "It is not a child! Maybe it used to be, but those days are long gone, and its nature is irredeemable. Whatever childishness it displays now is nothing more than a mockery of what they once were."

"That isn't true! It isn't an act!" the cold boy insisted.

"Isn't it? I've been fooled once!" Your Papa spread his arms wide to gesture at himself, a dry laugh rasping in his throat. You didn't know why he was laughing, but it didn't sound good at all. "I won't be fooled again," He said.

The cold boy's eyes fell on something near his feet and he stooped to pick it up. "Can fearlings draw pictures of their papas then, or was that just an act too?" he wanted to know. He was looking at your drawing that you had made at the big man's place. Your Papa didn't answer. "Maybe some of them were just pretending, but this one isn't, I can feel it!"

"And I should believe you based on that?" Your Papa sounded like he was going to laugh again, but he didn't sound happy.

"Why can't you just accept that it wants to be with you?" The cold boy shouted.

"Because it is a monster."

"It is a child and you did this to it!"

Your Papa fell silent and the cold boy held you against his chest once more.

Why was the cold boy yelling at your Papa? Don't yell at your Papa, you tried to tell him, but the cold boy didn't listen.

"Mother Nature was right, you don't deserve to be a father. But this fearling doesn't deserve to be abandoned by one." The cold boy said after a moment, breathing hard. You thought it was funny that the cold boy was shivering, because he was always cold but he never shivered.

"She said that about me, did she?" Your Papa asked stiffly. The cold boy squeezed you gently.

"She said that if you were going to ignore the only thing that still calls you it's father, then you didn't deserve to be one in the first place." The cold boy replied bluntly.

"She really thinks that, does she…?" your Papa murmured.

The cold boy hugged you tighter. "She's also the one who told me about the fearling. If I hadn't shown up it'd still be outside. I'm taking it back to the Guardians, so—"

"Give it to me." Your Papa interrupted, holding out his hand. He was hurting again, you knew, and you hoped you wouldn't get hurt too. You didn't want to get hurt again.

"What?" The cold boy took a step back, drawing you closer.

"I don't want to ask again. Give me the fearling, Jack. Please."

The cold boy didn't move at first, and he was afraid to, but slowly, ever so slowly, you felt yourself being placed into a pair of outstretched hands. You curled up against them with a whine as you were cradled gently.

You shifted and tried to lift your head, letting out a wail because whose hands were—

Oh…

 _Oh…_

Your Papa shushed you softly and you couldn't help but whine because it really was your Papa! He'd never held you before. It was so nice being held by your Papa, and you could see why the other younger ones always fought over it. But right now you were so, so tired… you just wanted to sleep…

Your eyes started to drift shut. Yes. Sleep would be nice.

"I'm so sorry, little one," Your Papa said. You didn't know why he was sorry, but you forgave him because he was your Papa and you loved him very much.

You were happy that you found your Papa.


	11. Epilogue

**Author's Note:** This is it! The final chapter (you didn't think I'd leave it at the last chapter did you?)! To all my readers, thank you so much for your enthusiasm and comments. I couldn't have finished this without you.

Enjoy~

* * *

Pitch Black looked out over the clearing and sighed, his breath fogging in front of his lips.

All the children in this town had long since been lulled to sleep by the Sandman's dreams, and the moon was nothing more than a tiny sliver of light above the canopy of trees that Pitch stood under. There wasn't a cloud in sight.

"Hello, Frost," Pitch drawled, not amused by the boy's half-baked attempt to sneak up on him.

"Hi, Pitch. Lovely weather tonight, huh?" Jack observed as he landed beside Pitch, completely disregarding the fact that mere moments ago he had been creeping through the shadows like a thief in the night.

"It was, but I suspect that it won't last long. I felt an unseasonable chill just now, surely a sign of unexpected snowfall. Won't the children be thrilled, tomorrow morning?" Pitch replied, peering up at a patch of sky through the branches of a tree that was no doubt dreading the snow it would be forced to carry. It had just gotten its leaves back too.

Jack grinned, but there wasn't a speck of remorse in his eyes as he followed Pitch's gaze skyward. "Gotta keep the rabbit on his toes," was the boy's excuse. Pitch bit back a snort.

"Came here to check up on me, did you?" He mused, throwing Jack a sidelong glance.

Jack's eyes never left the sky as he replied, "Well, yeah, that too."

Pitch really did snort that time. "Of course, of course," He murmured. The first signs of cloud cover were beginning to drift overhead, and Pitch could have sworn the tree above him groaned.

The bushes rustled off to his left and Pitch looked down at what was tugging at the hem of his robe.

"Oi, kiddo, you're supposed ta bring the egg to the basket, remember?" Bunnymund said as he bounded out into the open.

The fearling ignored Bunnymund in favor of hoisting its find over its head for Pitch to see. A golden egg. No, _the_ golden egg. The ultimate prize of Bunnymund's egg hunts. It let out a squeak that sounded almost human, bouncing up and down on its shadowy tail.

"Goodness, that was fast. Well done, little one." Pitch stooped to accept the egg and watched as the fearling scampered off with renewed vigor to search for more treats. "How many does this make it then? Eight?"

"Twelve. The kiddo's too quick. Can't hide 'em fast enough. I'm gonna have to think up better hiding spots at this rate," Bunnymund huffed, watching the fearling go.

Pitch smirked at the egg in his hand. "I'd say if it can find the golden egg that easily you clearly aren't hiding them well enough." Granted, an egg hunt for a fearling was very different compared to the egg hunt that had occurred just earlier that day. The fearling could search for eggs faster than Toothiana's fairies searched for teeth, even if the basket was too heavy for it to carry, and it was getting faster every year. Pitch was surprised that the fearling hadn't gotten bored yet. Bunnymund really ought to step up his game.

"Oh, rack off," Bunnymund grumbled, stalking away to supervise the last egg hunt of Easter somewhere that Pitch's smug grin wouldn't reach.

"You gonna eat that?" Jack asked after a moment, nodding hungrily towards the egg in Pitch's hand. Pitch scowled and held it a bit closer.

"I might. Find your own egg if you want one so badly, but I'll warn you there might not be any left to find pretty soon." Judging by the sounds, the fearling had found its thirteenth and fourteenth egg. Honestly, was Bunnymund just hiding them in groups or was he not even trying?

"Technically you didn't find it either," Jack pointed out, pouting.

"No, but it was given to me, and that makes it mine. Besides, you probably wouldn't be able to find one even if you tried." Pitch grinned triumphantly at Jack's scowl.

"You know what? Just for that, I will. We'll see how good the fearling fares at finding eggs against Jack Frost!" Jack declared, and despite the aggression in his voice there was mirth twinkling in his eyes as he sped after Bunnymund and the fearling on foot, the wind all but forgotten in the face of a challenge.

Pitch chuckled quietly as he watched the winter spirit flounder between the bushes, as elegant as a duck on land when he wasn't being carried to and fro by the breeze.

"If you really aren't going to eat that, I'll take it."

Pitch jumped violently at the voice. "Don't do that!" he hissed, turning to glare at the woman that had managed to get so close without his notice. Mother Nature tossed her billowing hair with a huff and Pitch crossed his arms, recovering from the shock with a gusty sigh. "You're checking up on me too then, I take it?" he supposed, making room for her to stand beside him. He was only slightly stung when she continued to keep her distance.

"No, actually. I came here to put a stop to whatever mess that idiot Frost was here to make." The tree above them creaked with relief and an uncomfortable silence settled over the two that Pitch couldn't help but break.

"I haven't seen you for a while. Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?" he tried. She didn't show a single sign of having heard him. He might as well have been talking to another tree for all he knew (he spent far too much time talking to trees these days), still he kept trying. He exhaled slowly, listening to the fearling play with Jack among the trees under Bunnymund's vigilant supervision.

"I'm still visiting the Oak of Sorrows. You were right when you said that it would be good for me," he told her quietly. The admittance seemed to soften her expression, if only slightly. "I can almost sleep on my own now. Sanderson is pleased. It's been… different, coping with all the new headspace," He continued, hearing her hum wordlessly in acknowledgement. He shifted uncomfortably and fell quiet, looking off into the trees.

"Do you think it would have been better if I had killed the fearling?" He mused suddenly. "It's the last one. I could have finished what the Constellations started. It would all be over."

"The General's job is never done," Was her scathing reply. She'd said something similar once, when she had been younger and smaller, he remembered with a bitter frown.

"Did you want me to kill the fearling before?" he asked softly, pursing his lips.

"Yes."

Pitch sighed heavily and closed his eyes at the unpleasant twinge in his chest. "Do you still want me to kill it?"

"I suppose not," She conceded, to his relief and surprise.

"This change of heart… Would it be presumptuous of me to assume that the fearling might have grown on you? Just a little bit?" Pitch pried in an even softer voice, daring to hope. _Wouldn't Aster be proud_ , his mind added snidely. She shot him a glare.

"It _would_ ," she answered sharply. After a few moments, she continued, her words no less cutting. "Regardless, it might be for the best that you let it live. The Guardians might never have agreed to help you otherwise. And you finally have something to fill your nest."

"It isn't the same," Pitch sighed, gazing at her sadly. Her glare intensified.

"It's more than you deserve. And maybe it will finally convince you to quit on that darkling princess idea that you'd been obsessing over for the last few millennia," she snipped with just enough venom in her voice to make the grass around her feet wilt.

"Maybe," Pitch agreed noncommittally. "My first attempt was the best really, nothing can ever come close to being as terrifying and beautiful as you," He confessed with a brittle smile.

She snatched the egg out of his hands with a sniff. "Is that meant to be flattery?" she grumbled, turning the egg over in her hands.

A more comfortable silence descended on them, and Pitch was content to let it last a little while. Mother Nature settled in the grass, collecting beetles in her hand and nibbling discretely on the chocolate egg while Pitch puzzled over the stray moth she had managed to attract or occasional tendril of hair that found its way around his ankle. When it seemed the fearling was finishing its egg hunt, Mother Nature began to take her leave, and Pitch barely managed to catch her before she ran off.

"You wouldn't happen to know who it was that taught the fearling to pronounce my name with a "B" rather than a "P" would you?" he asked in lieu of saying goodbye, though he already knew the answer. She hated when he said goodbye. She shrugged innocently.

"It isn't my fault that it misheard me."

And she was gone.

Pitch shook his head and turned to see the fearling dragging a wicker basket full of eggs determinedly towards him, completely unaware that Bunnymund was pushing it along with his foot. It seemed very proud of itself as Pitch looked over the basket of eggs indulgently and tried to ignore Bunnymund's piercing scrutiny. Judging by how protective the pooka was towards the fearling, Pitch doubted the suspicious looks would go away anytime soon, but he could never get over the oddness of the situation. It was strange enough that he had to talk Toothiana out of teaching the fearling how to brush its teeth as he was fairly sure that it didn't have any, and spending Christmas at North's workshop every year never ceased to be an outlandish affair.

Pitch was immensely relieved to leave without any further interactions. He was looking forward to a quiet evening in his lair, and if he were lucky, the fearling would give him the chance to rest. How such a small shadow had so much energy was an absolute mystery.

"I'm glad she still takes after her mother in some ways," Pitch confided in the fearling as they walked back to the entrance of his lair, one arm weighed down by the basket of the eggs that the fearling had found. He hadn't the slightest idea what he was going to do with all the chocolate. The fearling would only spit it back up, and if he ate it all himself he would probably do the same.

"Read?" the fearling chirped, tugging on his robe from where it sat nestled in the crook of his arm. It didn't have the slightest clue who he was talking about, and Pitch wasn't about to explain. The last time Mother Nature had come up in conversation the fearling had spent three days referring to her only as "Sister", much to everyone's discomfort. Needless to say, the fearling wasn't having any play dates with her for a few more years.

"Alright, but only a short story. Don't forget, Sanderson is going to visit us tonight," he reminded the fearling seriously. It didn't seem to have heard anything other than the fact that the Sandman was coming.

"Hide an' seek?" it asked him in a higher voice, pulling itself up onto his shoulder. It couldn't seem to settle on a voice to use today.

"Yes, I'm sure he'd love to play a game of hide and seek with you." The fearling made an unintelligible exclamation of excitement and wrapped itself around his neck like a scarf. It rested its chin on the top of his head and Pitch heard a faint puff as it exhaled contentedly.

"Are you happy?"

A nod and a squeak was the fearling's reply and Pitch found himself frowning.

"So you don't hate me yet?"

A muffled squeak as it put his hair in its mouth and spat it back out. Not exactly the answer he anticipated, then again it might not have been listening anyway.

Jack had been right, the fearling deserved a papa, and even if he didn't deserve the title he would be its papa for as long as it wanted him.

One day it might remember what he'd done.

One day it might even forgive him for it.


End file.
